Adventures of a Necron Cryptek
by Cirrikan the Technomancer
Summary: When a Necron Cryptek through his own experimentation reclaims an aspect of himself he lost from his biotransference, he goes on a journey to assert himself. Seeing his home universe as uncompromising and unyielding, the cryptek leaves with his loyal followers and acquired assets to a place where they hope they can rebuild in peace. Rated T for Violence
1. Chapter 1

Cirrikan delicately placed the last focusing crystal fiber into the Staff of Light he was rebuilding. The four-armed cryptek activated the small yet incredibly powerful energy source of the staff, which hummed to life with eldritch energy. Satisfied the weapon was working properly, Cirrikan completed the weapon by calling upon the highly complex fabrication functions of his hands which far outstripped the capabilities of whole swarms of canoptek spyders and scarabs. His hands allowed him to easily create complex and powerful technology from the simplest raw materials shaping them on the atomic scale. This was evidenced as he forged the Staff's phase blade seemingly out of thin air.

Once the staff was completed, Cirrikan handed it to the Necron Lord of Kronus, who took it and gave the weapon a few experimental swipes. Satisfied with the workings of the new weapon as it interfaced with the Necron Lord's systems, the Necron Lord gave a nod to the cryptek before teleporting away. Upgrading the staff was significantly lesser ability of the Cryptek, it was just one of countless other abilities which fell under his unique study as a "Technomancer." Considering his position as a cryptek, the title seemed like an exercise in unnecessary redundancy but it belied far more in regards to this particular cryptek.

Regardless of the numerous specializations of the cryptek conclaves, the repair and maintenance of Necron technology was second nature to each. Cirrikan took that several steps further with his ability to invent, create, and manufacture new technologies based upon the need or his desire. The ability to create or discover was now lost on most of the cryptek conclaves, say for a few…

When the Silent King sent the whole of the Necron race into their tombs to slumber, Cirrikan's research outpost was a bit more active than other tombs. While other Necron tombs were placed into a state of perpetual maintenance at the hands of the canoptek tomb spyders and the scarab swarms they controlled, Cirrikan tweaked the adaptive sub-routines to implement a system of constant subtle improvements.

When the cryptek emerged from his 60 million year hibernation, he discovered the fruit of his adaptation. Many aspects of the Tomb had been improved, the Spyders, scarabs, even the cryptek himself! His tomb spyders had improved maintenance efficiency by replacing unnecessarily complex systems with more durable and simple ones. This simplification had opened up new opportunities for improvements, which the spyders capitalized on.

Due to the fact that the warriors had such low-quality necrodermis bodies, they recalled very little of their lives before their biotransference. The canoptek spyders considered this to be incomplete information, a problem that needed to be fixed. Initially, the spyders struggled to reconstruct the data until their adaptive processes came to the conclusion that part of the problem was that the data was incompatible with the hardware in which the memories had been implanted. In order to rectify this, the spyders turned their attention to studying the race that had come to reside on the planet: humans. Creating scarabs with powerful scanners, the spyders studied the humans without discovery.

They soon understood the electrochemical impulses of the organics and it seemed that this format of "hardware" was compatible with the data. That was the breakthrough the spyders needed. Taking the small sleeping contingent of necron warriors, they implemented a technological system that imitated the observed organic processes. The incomplete data began to reconstruct itself. Once the spyders were satisfied with the reconstructed data, they put the newly upgraded Necron Warriors back into stasis until their designated time to awakened came.

When Cirrikan awoke, the first thing he noticed was the feeling of air moving over his necrodermis next thing was an _emotional_ response to the sensation.

He thought the breeze felt nice.

 _Nice?_

The cryptek moved his hands to touch his body.

His four hands…

 _This is unexpected but not unwelcome._

The cryptek now sported four arms and numerous new means of sensing the world around him. His inquiries to the outpost's Nodal Command Network yielded the extensive logs of the spyders and their activities while he slumbered. His enhanced processes absorbed the data quickly and efficiently, The cryptek was very much pleased as well as surprised at the changes that were made. The nodal command network informed him also about the status of the warriors. They too expressed their pleasure at the changes, specifically the reclamation of who they were.

This change brought about something else… the cryptek's integration into the warrior's command network. Cirrikan was now in equal standing to a Necron Lord in regards to them. This was a problem. When they eventually reintegrated themselves into necron society, to say the least it would be frowned upon, perhaps holding the cryptek in contempt of any court he was asked to join. To rectify this, the cryptek directed his spyders to modify the warriors further creating a sub-nodal command network which he was part of in the capacity they desired while simultaneously applying upgrades to their respective minds and bodies. Simultaneously, he directed the other spyders and their scarabs to reconfigure the outpost into a spaceworthy form. He had the canoptek wraiths phase freshly made canopek leeches into the wall's where they integrated with many systems. Other crypteks would consider such an endeavor beneath them and nobility would consider it a waste of time. But for a cryptek of Cirrikan's caliber, their pride was their work and his was repair, maintenance, construction, manufacturing, modification, and development of necron technology.

Synchronizing every spyder, wraith, leech, and scarab, Cirrikan united them all in mind and purpose. In the subfunctions of every system, the technomancer shaped and bent them to his will.

 _Restructuring…_

 _Repurposing power infrastructure…_

 _Integrating sentry turret defenses…_

 _Fabricating anti-gravity systems..._

The research outpost shifted and reshaped. Necrodermis flowed like water as a once-static structure became a unique vessel.

 _Power matrix forming…_

The green crystalline lattice formed between the reformed upper prongs of ship. Eldritch energy flowed into the cryptek ship. The ground shook as the vessel struggled to break free of the ground. The organics nearby looked up from their primitive lives to witness the monolithic structure rise from the ground.

The newly created vessel broke the atmosphere and soon it's internal power systems began to build. Cirrikan was an unknown genius among even the crypteks, one of the few gifted with the knowledge on how to create Dolman gates, having been used by many of the C'tan to create their respective projects. Unfortunately the cryptek lacked the materials or the power to fabricate them. He needed a tomb world… an active or waking one….Cirrikan tapped into warriors original nodal command network and patched it into the communications systems.

… he found it, the ship's systems calculated a course around the sun to the waking tomb world. He may not have had a dolman gate but what he did have was the knowledge of how to harness the mass of a star and how to use it's gravity to his advantage. Cirrikan repurposed the stasis tubes, expanded their capacity, and hardened their internal structure. As the vessel accelerated towards the star, the process began.

The Necron vessel skirted close to the star and began to scoop up the star's mass drawing and compressing it into the repurposed stasis tubes. The principle the cryptek was operating on was not that different from the creation of an Æonic orb, only in this case it was creating eight of them for the purpose of generating the power needed for what he was about to attempt. As the vessel absorbed more mass, it accelerated exponentially but did not break the gravitational pull of the star. The cryptek channeled the gathered mass into two separate reactor units, one was channeled into the phase-shifting units from integrated canoptek wraiths and the other was channeled the the ship's aft.

Once the vessel reached escape velocity, the cryptek activated both the phase shifter's reducing the vessel's mass to zero while simultaneously detonating the mass from the second reactor in what could only be described as a cone of nova fire.

The theoretical principle at work, the vessel accelerated to FTL speeds hurling at an incredible velocity.

Destination: Tomb World 34279

Ultima Segmentum designated world: Kronus


	2. Welcome to Kronus

Containing and focusing a small nova was no mean feat. It was also costly. Though nercrodermis was incredibly durable and versatile, it had its limits. This was proven when the explosion that had hurled them into FTL velocities had damaged 23% of their makeshift craft and 76% of the damaged sections had been utterly vaporized. What was more, they needed a similar feat to drop below FTL velocity, fortunately the cryptek had repaired the damage with what material they had and Cirrikan had improved the method.

Their craft shook as the vessel once again phase shifted in conjunction with another focused nova detonation. Dropping the ship exactly where the cryptek wanted. The ship was still traveling at unprecedented velocities but he had calculated the vessel's remaining mass with velocity and trajectory in conjunction with planetary rotation and exact gravometric profiles. This allowed the ship to decelerate without expending any of it's remaining energy and landing the ship precisely in orbit with one of the system's rings where he could use the material composing the rings to expand and improve upon his vessel.

To the matter of the Tomb World, Cirrikan sensed right away that though the Tomb world was steadily awakening, it was struggling to activate. The reason was indeterminate from the range he was at and the Tomb World's Nodal Command Network was not very forthcoming. What was clear was that there were numerous aspects of the Nodal command network that were either missing or overlapping creating glitches in the complex system.

 _There was no precedence as to why a Tomb World be operating like that._

The cryptek's probe drew another aspect of the command network: the Planet's Necon Lord.  
Quickly examining the waking logs, the cryptek found that the Necron lord was one of the first to wake.  
 _Something has happened here, Nobility should be among the last to wake, not first_.

The Necron Lord quickly recognized the cryptek's meticulous analysis and opened dialogue. Due to the fact that cryptek's were relatively free agents, it was protocol for Necron nobility to make offers to cryptek's in order to entice them into their service. Cirrikan was intrigued, though not by what the Necron Lord offered him but rather what little he was offering. The thing about the Nodal Command Networks was that there was little room for deception unless it was operating between them because the Networks were unique to each necron planet. That being said, the technomancer could detect that the Necron Lord was offering so little because he had little to offer.

Cirrikan requested a eternity gate connection. His vessel had already repurposed some of it's system to create one side of the gate. The cryptek sensed a surge in the Nodal Command Network and another overlap in it's code appeared. A connection was established to the planet and the portal opened.

Cirrinkan left several instructions for his warriors and the canoptek spyders he was leaving behind. When all was set, the cryptek stepped through the portal followed by his entourage. Emerging through the portal into the primary chamber, the cryptek got a better picture of what the problem was. Connecting to the tomb's canopek spyders, wraiths, and scarabs, he quickly discovered that many systems were physically cut off from the primary tomb.

It was unlikely that this extensive damage was caused by simple cave-ins, as even the most basic of scarabs understood the concept of structure in relation to geometric structure and pressure, so that left one conclusion: Tectonic activity. Cirrikan was no geomancer, but the planet's tectonic structure would have either been rendered rigid or accounted for in the tomb's design before the planet was given a tomb world status. This meant that whatever caused the tectonic instability was not a natural occurrence.

Regardless of the cause the cryptek had his work cut out for him… provided he and the tomb world's Necron Lord could come to an acceptable arrangement. To that end, the only thing the Necron Lord had that remotely interested him was the recently-made Pariahs and, remarkably, a Tesseract Labyrinth containing a shard of what was once one of the most powerful of the C'tan: the Nightbringer. Though Szarekh, the Silent King planned to turn on the C'tan, he needed every cryptek to develop a means to defeat them. Once it was determined that the C'tan simply could not be destroyed but rather shattered, a means needed to be devised that could contain the shards, not only that they needed to be developed using technologies that were already in existence so as not to rouse suspicion. As the C'tan regularly networked with Nobility, they were not trustworthy at the time only the free agents that were the cryptek conclaves, could be trusted to carry out the Silent King's plans. As the technomancer, Cirrikan in particular was the mind behind the construction of the tesseract Labyrinths and vaults. When the time came, the Silent King used his command protocols to simultaneously attack every C'tan within range. Timing was crucial, not only did every C'tan have to be in the right position but they had to shatter them before life became so scarce in the galaxy, that the C'tan would turn on the Necrons and devour what little was left of their essences.

Needless to say, Cirrikan knew a thing or two about the Tesseract Labyrinth. Using his own administrative access, the cryptek accessed the artifact's maintenance protocols. Unlike the intelligence of the Nodal Command Network, a tesseract Labyrinth had to be adaptive almost to the point of sentience, not only to account for the constant repair of its system's in containing the power of the shard but also controlling the shard to a limited degree when it was unleashed as well as returning it to containment when its use was completed.

The cryptek had little interest in using the Tesseract Labyrinth, what he was interested in was the new construction, repair, and maintenance methods developed by the Labyrinth's intelligence, which would be useful in getting the tomb up and running, plus various other projects. So acquiring what he needed from the Tesseract Labyrinth, Cirrikan made a counteroffer to the Necron Lord, asking for the Pariahs and extending a line of credit. Necron nobility often winced when a cryptek extended a line of credit because it means there were few limits to what a cryptek could ask for, however in the case of this particular Necron Lord, he had little choice. So he agreed.

No sooner had Cirrikan integrated with the Tomb systems, then the Necon Lord tossed the Cryptek a viridian orb. Catching it, the cryptek accessed it maintenance functions. It was a resurecction sphere…. with many burned out components. The cryptek posed a question to the Lord, the answer was somewhat enlightening. Apparently the archaeologist that was now a pariah had awakened the Necron Lord and to say the least he had awakened to his Tomb in shambles. The few canoptek Spyders he had were pushed to the limit attempting to repair the numerous complex systems. To attempt to bring the tomb back of to full potential, the Necron lord had shoved the Resurrection Sphere into every damaged system he could find as often as the orb had power to do so. The problem was that the Orb was designed to power and coordinate the repair systems of Battlefield forces not the complex systems of the tombs.

 _Well, this explains the overlapped repairs and system glitches. This is going to be an interesting challenge._

It would be a different story if the Necron lord had used the Orb of Eternity, (which curiously enough was a cheap imitation of the functions of his staff.) however the Necron Lord using it on the tomb had caused as many problems as it resolved.

The cryptek immediately put his spyders to work, prioritizing primary power systems and stasis revitalization systems. The idea was that if he could successfully revitalize the remaining slumbering Necrons and repair the damaged ones then he could repurpose the material of those systems to use for manufacturing. Getting the Main Tomb back to full functionality was going to be a challenge by itself, the rest of the planet was an entirely different matter.

Most of the Tomb's scarabs had already been deployed to the surface to function as scouts. The Necron Lord had apparently come to the same conclusion Cirrikan was coming to: with tectonic activity a concern, the best way to reconnect the Main tomb to its other chambers was through a surface connection. The problem was the fact that the living occupied a significant portion of the surface. Without the aid of a cryptek or a canoptek spyder, the Necron Lord could only utilize the scarbs as either destructive swarms or scouts. Now that he was there, Cirrikan tapped into them and began to divert several of them to construct small, carefully hidden communication nodes and scarab construction facilities. Canoptek scarabs in the hands of the Necron aristocracy was like primitives using tools like clubs but in his hands, they were instruments of incredible feats of construction. Through the use of additional manufactured scarabs, networked back to the main tomb. Additional details began to be assimilated and processed by the main tomb's tactical systems which were beginning to be systematically restored.

Due to the numerous failing systems, the Necron Lord was only able to muster a comparatively small force against the living. Ovewr the course of several planetary rotations,the forces the Necron Lord was able to awaken were enough for a surprise attack to take enough surface territory to give them surface access to one of the disconnected catacombs. Cirrikan utilized some of his abilities as the technomancer to construct a small surface installation over the catacomb. Using some of the routed power from the Main tomb, the cryptek was able to partially raise a monolith and start the process of reconnecting the lower catacombs to the planet's Nodal Command network. Once the initial programs were in place, the tomb spyders that were fielded could perform those tasks without his supervision. With the full reactivation of the monolith and the repairs of the catacombs below, more Necron warriors could be pulled from stasis.

The cryptek noted with an unusual note that many of the forces brought up varied between the degraded minds of Flayed Ones, the downright homicidal personalities of the wraiths (not to be confused with canopek wraiths but like that distinction mattered to the Necron nobility), and the genocidal mentality of the Destroyers and Destroyer Lords.  
Looking at the Tomb World's records, the question on his mind was answered: This Tomb World was a Necron Penal Colony/ Asylum. Regardless, after several planetary rotations since his arrival, the scarabs he dispatched to gather information, reported several useful locations to the Cryptek, however until those positions were reclaimed from the living, they were denied to him. So in the meantime he turned his attention to the pariahs, specifically the one once called Thomas Macabe.

While the Necron Lord was busy trying to reconquer the planet, Cirrikan was busy with a project of his own. Before the Silent King sent the Necrons into their slumber, a desire was expressed, not an order, a desire… a desire to restore what biotransference and the C'tan robbed them of: life. As far as the cryptek could tell, with the exception of himself, the rest of the necrons ignored the desire of their king. For Cirrikan, it was the ultimate challenge, to bridge the gap between the organic and the technological. Due to the crypt pariahs only going through a partial biotransference, they made for the ideal test subjects. The first thing Cirrikan did was order some of the Tomb Spyders Cirrikan brought with him to perform similar modifications upon their partially necrodermis bodies as he received from them. Interesting enough, with actual nerves to work with, the spyders had to adapt further in their work which, according to them would take several planetary cycles.

Part of his agreement with the Necron Lord of the Tomb World (which he found out was called Kronus from the Tomb's records) was that while the cryptek was not required to participate in every battle, when the time came to assault the planetary headquarters of every faction, he was to be there to at the very least support and enhance the warriors' self-repair functions. When Cirrikan was informed that the Necron Lord was going to attack the peninsula where the Warp-dependent forces of Chaos were stationed, it gave the Cryptek an idea.

He drew upon his own extensive schematics finding what he needed.


	3. The Necron tempest

As Cirrikan accompanied the necron forces into the territory of the Chaos, his tomb world maintenance protocols were pinged by the peninsula's catacombs. As their small army reached the edge of the catacomb, the Necron Lord drew upon his own considerable reserves of power to partially summon a monolith to the surface. The canoptek spyders went to work coordinating swarms of scarabs to assemble power generators, then accordingly drawing summoning cores to the surface, boosting both the Necron Lord's command protocols and Cirrikan's maintenance protocols to the evidently damaged catacombs beneath them.

Even as the canoptek spyders went about their work getting the surface base operational, their position did not go unnoticed by the forces of chaos. Until they could get reinforcements from the catacombs below, the Necron Lord was forced to have his troops assume a defensive posture. Their position was assailed by countless monstrosities of the warp to which the cryptek did not have knowledge of nor names for... at least not yet. He had an idea about that as he went about coordinating the repair of the catacomb systems below.

When new monstrosities emerged amidst their base, they were just as rapidly dispatched under sustained gauss fire. For the Necron Lord, simply eliminating them was enough but Cirrikan took it a step further by having his scarabs break them down to their atomic components purifying them of the taint of the Immaterium, which were accordingly rebuilt into parts to repair the damaged catacombs. The Eternity gate system was active enough to the degree that the cryptek could send scarabs, spyders, and parts below. Once enough systems were restored, the catacombs began to come back to life and the Necron Lord was soon receiving the reinforcements he desired to push forwards into Chaos territory.

Though it seemed as though Chaos was not without it's own defenses aside from its infantry. Large structures of obvious Chaos design dotted the landscape before the apex of the mountainous landscape which bore a gateway into the very heart of the Immaterium, pouring forth many a legion of those long corrupted by the powers of the Warp. The purpose of the structures was made clear as when warriors approached them, a pulse of warp energy pulsed from the structure ripping apart all those in it's path. The cryptek noted that the pulses emitted from each structure curiously all pulsed simultaneously and on a regular, consistent basis. Pointing this curiosity out to the Necron Lord, they both arrived at a similar conclusion: Due to the inconsistent nature of anything derived straight from the warp, that meant these structures of Chaos served as the equivalent of capacitors that discharged warp energy when filled, this meant they were all connected to a singular conduit which routed Warp energy to them.

It was a simple matter to locate the source but an entirely different matter to reach the point, considering that the local teleportation grid was still down. To that end, Cirrikan had developed a new weapon for the Necron Lord to use. As a monolith awoke, Cirrikan modified the power matrix that came to life with a special module based off the technology null-field generation capabilities of the Shadow Ankh. Enhanced by the monolith's power systems, the device projected a large field around itself in which the warp did not have a hold on anything of the Matterium. Under the shadow of this special weapon which cancelled out the pulsing of the structures, the Nercon Lord marched his forces towards the mountainside.

As the sole functioning noble on Kronus marched on the Warp portal, Cirrikan saw to the base's defenses. Pylons were brought up from the catacombs and powered up. In spite of that, Chaos forces leaked into the base. Particularly, a group driven through the air by primitive propellant. They managed to land in the base and assault Cirrikan, likely targeting him. Some used plasma-based weaponry in an attempt to overcome his self-repair systems, while the others charged him with primitive servo-driven chain swords.

While crypteks were known more for their skills with science and technology rather than their martial prowess, the War in Heaven was a testament to the fact that in many ways, crypteks were more creatively lethal than nobility. When facing a noble you knew you would often face a mixture of ranged and melee combat plus the capabilities of whatever additional artifacts they happened to be carrying. With a cryptek, not only would one have to contend with melee and ranged combat but also the hyper-advanced science unique to each.

To counter those that attacked him with their chain swords, the cryptek drew upon necrodermis from the catacomb beneath him and had it form into warscythes capable of shifting form and position on mental command. The cryptek utilized this feature shifting the blades to catch the chain swords of the armored primitives between his staff's blades and slicing them in two. It was after this disarmament that these flight-capable morons found out exactly why he was known as the technomancer. While his staff wielding arm held the bulk of their physical attacks off, his other three arms worked beneath his robes.

As the flying idiots peppered his necrodermis frame with plasma fire, he extended his hands and rapidly forged several spikes from nearby structures and launched them to impale them. Even as some of the spikes missed them, they found out this was intentional as they exploded into swarms of small scarabs which swarmed over them, eating away at their armor.

Suddenly, the lot of his attackers dropped to the ground crying out in pain, some of them grabbed their helmets while others seemed to be retching. The cryptek knew the reason and it was now borne on the head of his staff in the form of the Triarch symbol. Powered by local systems, the device's null-field generator covered a large area completely cutting off any nearby Chaos forces from the warp. In the short run, this prevented them from calling upon any powers of the warp, however the cryptek doubted anyone has ever observed what happens when they are cut off from the Warp for an extended period of time. To make sure none were able to return to combat or escape via their jetpacks, they cryptek had his scarab swarms break down their jet packs and use the raw materials to weld their legs together, their arms to their torsos, and sealed up their joints, effectively rendering their armor as convenient prisons.

With all of his foes either dead or entrapped in their own armor, Cirrikan called upon his technical knowledge to build a larger stationary null-field generator in the middle of the base and linked it to the catacomb's power systems. The cryptek then broke down the scythes and deactivated the portable null-field generator on his staff as he approached one of the hooligans. He needed information and with the warp draining from them, he could now utilize mindshackle scarabs to extract information.

But rather than simply make the scarabs and have them burn out in a single use the cryptek began to manufacture in each of his hands a variation of the Phylactery which instead of enacting hyperfast repairs could instead act as small scale manufacturing force. From there he could have them create into their armor whatever equipment he needed to perform his experiments. He had each of these interlopers integrated into necrodermis obelisks surrounding the stationary null-field generator. He then commanded mindshackle scarabs to enter them. Information began to flow from the 'Raptors,' as they were called, into the Nodal command network though sorting information from the Chaos nonsense would take time.

It was at that time, that Cirrikan got an unexpected visit. Emerging from one of the inactive monolith's Eternity gates, came the Pariahs. They had changed considerably from when the Necron Lord of Kronus had reluctantly transferred them to the cryptek, their bodies gleaming with higher quality necrodermis bodies and equipped with varied types of wargear. Doubtless the Necron Lord would disapprove but when he had access to a cryptek that could easily make such gear, he had little room to complain. More than that, the Pariahs, by Cirrikan's command, had been freed of the obedience protocols, integrated into the Cryptek's personal subnodal command network, and been bestowed with the same upgrades that allowed Cirrikan and his warriors to feel again.

 _You did not have to come._ Cirrikan transmitted to the Pariahs.

The one that was their spokesman, Thomas Macabee replied, _We have come to aid you. You are our best hope of becoming human again, through your goal to restore your race to the living. We will serve you just so long as this is your primary goal. Addendum: We will occasionally have requests which are negotiable and hope you will at the very least hear us out._

 _Very well_ Said Cirrikan as he pondered this unexpected development. As a measure of good faith, he patched them into the information feeds of the Tomb World's nodal command network which they were more able to readily interpret the information extracted from the Raptors to which a disturbing event was discovered was taking place.

There was mention of a ritual that was being prepared featuring "sacrifices" which implied some of the planet's captured human populace, some necron warriors which accounted for the ones missing from the catacombs, and a "Dark Mechanicum," which Macabee explained in detail. The Cryptek informed the Necron Lord, who in turn asked him to take care of it. Cirrikan gathered together swarms of scarabs and a fair number of canoptek wraiths and spyders. Additional swarms joined theirs from both the catacombs and the main tomb through the Eternity gate, forming a storm of the mechanical insects which spiralled high into the sky.

Cirrikan and the Pariahs boarded the Spyders which followed the scarab swarms high into the air while the canoptek wraiths went back underground to emerge at key locations when and where the cryptek specified once they arrived. Now Cirrikan was not a tactician by any stretch of the imagination but when he had the Nodal Command network and the Canoptek spyders there was no need for any degree of tactical prowess. To that end, the command network had the swarms rapidly descend upon the base.

It was at that time that Thomas Macabee had a request for the cryptek: He asked that they spare the lives of the sacrifices. Cirrikan agreed and had the Nodal command network designate the captives as "Cryptek assets," meaning: Hands Off! The Nodal Command Network accepted his designation and accordingly altered its attack pattern to clear the skies of enemies and any anti-air defenses below. Looking through the eyes of several of the scarabs below, Cirrikan directed several of the swarms to deconstruct many of the daemonic structures and convert them into more scarabs.

Once their Spyders had lowered close enough to the ground, the pariahs leaped from their mounts using the force of their respective impacts to disorient and/ or kill whichever of their foes happened to be within their impact radius. Many a Chaos Space Marine and hellspawn sought to halt the advance but their centuries of combat experience failed to account for necron phasing abilities as many were run through by the canoptek wraiths from below. While the Pariah's worked their way over to the captives, the technomancer directed his spider over to Dark Mechanicum fortress.

As the cryptek, approached the warp-corrupted factory, many a daemonic engine emerged from from its fiery depths. It was then that Cirrikan activated his staff's Null-field generator boosted in power by the recent arrival of another reawakened monolith which teleported amidst the facility extending the field even further. The engines screeched as if in pain as they became chaotic and disoriented as the daemon entities that animated them began to erode away in the absence of the warp in combination with the attacking scarabs eating away at their metallic hides. The cryptek had the monolith blast apart the Warp constructs as he walked through their remains into the Hell Forge.

Inside he saw slaves most of which were unfortunately integrated with the machinery, their skin red and blistered from the heat. The scarabs took care of the miserable beings, rapidly reducing them into useful components. It was then that the Chaos tech priests made their presences known firing a variety of weapons at the cryptek but most failed, likely due to some of them requiring a connection to the Warp to work properly. The scarabs that swarmed the forge were directed to encase the corrupt tech priests in cocoons for transportation, information, and experimentation.

It was as the Spyders picked up and moved the cocooned tech priests out of the forge to the Eternity gate, that the Forge's magi made himself known. Clomping into the main area, riding atop one of their Defilers. The machine emitted a roar as the Magi directed it to fire its weapons and charge the cryptek. Cirrikan stabbed his staff into the floor of the forge and crouched as the Defiler fired wildly attempting to catch the necron in its claws.

As the machine brought both of its claws down, Cirrikan's feet fractured the ground as he caught them both with two of his hands. His fingers dug into the metal while his other two arms emerged from beneath his robes and went to work on the monstrous construct. The highly complex systems that made up his hands fabrication array began to remake the defiler, replacing the bloody paint and Warp-infested plating with the solid black form of necrodermis. The daemon integrated with the vehicle began to screech as its prison became even less hospitable but at the same time the chains which bound it began to crumble.

"What are you doing?! Stop!" The Dark Magi screamed.

It was too late. The last of the daemon's bonds were severed and it went to the one who bound it to that form: the Magi. The tech priest screamed as the daemon twisted his body, claw and tentacles emerging from his body from beneath his robes. The daemon-infested tech priest leaped from shifting machine at the cryptek. However, the daemon magi was intercepted by a large fabrication claw. The form uncoiled to reveal the mechanisms of defiler had been shifted into a segmented carapace of a construct that blended the canoptek spyder and Crypt stalker.

At the direction of Cirrikan, the canoptek spider stalker threw the daemon magi into one of the open pits of molten metal. The twisted form shrieked as its flesh melted in the pool of metal. The cryptek and the new construct left the Dark forge as it structure began to collapse under the feasting of the scarab swarms. They managed to leave just as the Hell-forge succumbed to its own weight.

Cirrikan turned his attention to the freed prisoners whom were talking to their saviors, the pariahs.

 _Now that these people are no longer sacrifices, what do you intend to do with them?_ The cryptek asked Thomas Macabee.

 _They desire to join the Imperial guard in Victory Bay, some of them have families there._ The Pariah explained.

 _Not recommended. The Lord of Kronus is going to attack them next._

Macabee was silent in the subnetwork yet his mixed emotions flooded the system. Anger, sadness, helplessness… The way the cryptek conveyed that message was neither a desire nor a threat but rather a fact, an eventuality.

Thomas Macabee's thoughts were interrupted by the crashing sound coming from the debris of the Dark Mechanicum Hell-forge. the structure shifted and moved. The broken machinery inside began to adhere to a forming structure. Hell fires exploded out of discharge stacks as sharp metal began to form a mouth and girders supported by broken gears began to behave like an arm, which pushed against the ground to lift the body. The mouth and numerous eyes irised open to reveal molten metal. The daemon that escaped the defiler was apparently drawing power from the warp outside the null-field's sphere of influence to cleverly build a new host body that would easily put it into the category of a titan.

 _I will take care of them. For now, that needs to be addressed,_ the cryptek transmitted.

In a moment, the cryptek's Subnodal command network united all his local forces in purpose. The remaining humans were rushed through the eternity gate to a prespecified location. The pariahs, canoptek wraiths, spyders, and scarabs sprung into action. The scarbs swarmed the daemon construct attempting to further break down its structure, while the pariahs climbed aboard some of the spyders to lift them into the air. Once they were in key positions, the pariahs lept from their mounts to bring their anti-warp presences to bear as they attacked the structure of the forming daemon engine.

The warp construct suddenly roared not only from the damage it was sustaining but also by the sudden cut-off from its main source of warp energy. The Necron Lord had used the modified monolith to destroy the conduit of the Warp pulse rendering the structures defenseless. The scarabs moving about the battlefield as a whole suddenly acted upon their construction protocols and descended upon the inactive warp structures to build specific devices at key points.

The cryptek extended a hand to the monolith's Eternity gate. It flickered for a moment before launching a capsule through only to be halted by the eldritch energies of the cryptek. While accessing the the systems of the monolith, which suddenly went inactive, the technomancer tapped into a portion of his staff's capabilities. The clouds above took on the same eldritch glow as all necron technology. Green and viridian energy arced down from the clouds to the staff. The staff glowed with power. While his outer arms held the staff and the other, the capsule, which contained the powerful energies of the star his makeshift vessel had extracted during their departure from the previous system, his inner hands crossed each other.

The power in the air could be felt as the cryptek suddenly spread his arms in the direction of the monolith. Seams, that were not there before, suddenly appeared as the monolith came to pieces that floated, spun, and began to change form and function. The eternity gate remained intact and lay face-up, flat at the center of the tornado of necron technology. The eternity gate, which now stood alone, flickered and additional pieces of technology joined the storm. The spyder stalker came apart, it's pieces joining the storm. The pieces began to change shape and joined with others. The solar mass capsule was sent into the center of the storm and the pieces began to join it. It did not take long for a carapace to form in the midst of the storm. Long, thick, mechanical legs attached to the main body. A long tail formed ending with a weapon normally reserved for gauss pylons: The gauss obliterator.

When he spared a glance, Thomas Macabee saw a new necron construct that resembled a scorpion from ancient terra. The daemon titan had nearly finished its monstrous form. Turrets emerged from its frame and fired heavy bolter rounds and missiles at the the forces around it. Its giant form twisted suddenly shaking off several of the pariahs.

 _Now would be an excellent time to get off_. The cryptek said to the remaining pariahs on the daemon.

The pariahs leaped clear just as the shoulder of the daemon was blasted away by the tail cannon of the newly created canoptek scorpyon. The arm fell off as the daemon roared in pain. A cannon formed in the jaws of the monstrous machine and aimed at the scorpyon, only to have the weapon struck by green lightening of a pair of Tesla Destructors mounted on the back of the scorpyon, blowing away the daemons' weapon and jaw along with it. The metal daemon raised its arm, discharge stacks blew as its claws glowed with the energy of warp talons, bringing the massive arm down onto the scorpion. The scorpyon caught the arm in one of its four immense fabricator claws.

As the two titans engaged each other, the energies of the Chaos titan suddenly took an even worse blow as in the distance the Necron Lord's modified monolith destroyed the warp gate. At the same time Cirrikan channeled the catacombs power systems into the newly built obelisks which began to strip the twisted land of it's warp energies. Deprived of all possible sources of power to sustain it, the inner fire of the daemon titan began to fade. The canoptek scorpyon fired the gauss obliterator from its tail in a zig-zagging stream over the Chaos titan, which detonated with an immense explosive force, sending debris everywhere.

With its task complete, the cryptek lifted his staff over his head. It began to spin in his hand, faster and faster, until it took on the glow of an eternity gate. The scorpyon went dark as it was disassembled, the pieces flying through the makeshift eternity gate. It was being reassembled at his vessel where it would help modify and expand his craft. When all was done, Cirrikan put his now-motionless staff on the ground and turned to the Pariah Macabee.

 _Be careful of who you make demands of._

The cryptek promptly turned and teleported, leaving the pariahs and spyders to a landscape changing from hellish perversion to pure white sand.

 **Author's note: Thank you all for reading my story. I find each review to be the fuel that drives me to write. There is more to come. Once again, thank you**


	4. Extractions and preparations

**ShiggyDiggered: I'm left wondering, why exactly would the cryptek remove the obedience protocols exactly, let alone allow them to feel? Just seems pointless.**

 **Answer: That is only pointless if you look at them from a purely military standpoint. A general wants soldiers who will obey. Scientists need test subjects to see how changes affect them so as to improve. As test subjects, he needs to be able to see how they respond to changes as he makes them. They are templates for a multiple stage plan to restore his race to the living. A cryptek uses swarms of canoptek wraiths, scarabs, and spyders. Cirrikan never intended the pariahs to fight but obviously welcomed their participation.**

 **Authors Note: The cryptek will eventually leave for the DC universe but only after his affairs are forcibly concluded on Kronus which will take 3-4 chapters, maybe more.**

As it turned out, the tech priests of the Dark Mechanicum had kept enough of their wits and sanity to meticulously account for many details concerning the land. Specifically the locations and names of the home bases of every faction, confirmed by scouting scarab swarms, including the webway gates built long ago by the necron's ancient enemy, the Eldar. There was little doubt as to the reason the Eldar in particular were on Kronus, to prevent the full awakening of the Tomb World. The cryptek found it very amusing that they who came to attack were themselves under attack by the Loyalist Space Marines.

Having traveled rapidly under the cover of night, carried by a dozen spyders modified with anti-gravitic engine capable of higher speeds, the cryptek had carefully navigated along the main continent's West coast towards the Eldar's base in Tyrea. It was also their fortune, that a storm was occurring to cover their approach.

As they approached Tyrea, they dived beneath the waves. Nobles and unfortunately most crypteks always used the surface entrances to the tombs. To avoid crowding the entrances, canoptek spyders and scarabs used service entrances like the one they were about to use. A field from the entrance cleared away the silt allowing them to enter the catacombs.

Fortunately, the Tyrea catacombs were not heavily damaged and the canoptek spyders and the wraiths and scarabs they controlled had done well to maintain the systems, however they lacked the development of his spyders, which means they did not have the ability to create new power systems in the absence of a cryptek. The conundrum they faced was maintaining the systems with limited power and they lacked the capacity to consider cannibalization to build new power systems. Cirrikan's spyders updated the tomb's spyder compliment.

Once the cryptek was patched into the tombs fragmented nodal command network, he detected several anomalies in the stasis systems. Once he found the areas where they were, he initially did not see them until he went there himself. His highly-enhanced vision was able to pick up miniscule distortions in the lighting.

His sensors picked up an energy signature that he found all too familiar.

 _Eldar_.

It made sense, they were there to make sure the Tomb World never awoke, only logical for them to take an extra measure to insure that the tomb beneath their feet was completely dormant. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he sent orders to his Spyders, ordering themto tune the scarabs to the energy frequency for Eldar technology and scan the catacombs for anything else.

As it turned out the Eldar had isolated key systems to operation of stasis mode, convincing the isolated tomb that it was to remain dormant but also rigged to alert them should the tomb begin to circumvent their paltry measure. On a fully operable Tomb world, this would not be an issue but cut-off from the primary node of the command network, the catacomb was tactically crippled. It was clever but unfortunately for the Eldar he was not there to awaken the tomb, he was there for them, the space marines, and the webways gates.

Also he had a plan...

On the surface, the plans of the Eldar were utterly collapsing as their living shields of the Chaos base was destroyed and the Ork stronghold was on the verge of falling to the tactical prowess of Captain Davian Thule of the Adeptus Astartes Blood Ravens chapter. As his forces advanced, he used carefully maintained servo skulls to weed out hidden Eldar forces. Two of the three webway gates had been shut down, significantly cutting off the Eldar from their reinforcements and escape route home.

As the third wave of the space marines crashed against the ork stronghold, having used a combination of artillery strikes and using the orks own untrained squiggoths to break their crude fortifications. In spite of the relentlessness of the large numbers of Orks, the bolter fire and powerful strikes of space marine weapons claimed one ork after another. Yet with their inbred love of war the Orks were simply ecstatic and too enthusiastic to notice to notice a few of their numbers were suddenly bound and phased underground by canoptek wraiths. Likewise several space marine scouts were claimed by the wraiths.

Behind the Space marine lines inside their stronghold, an Apothecary attended to the wounded and collecting the gene seed of the dead. Each apothecary bore extensive knowledge of surgical techniques, cybernetics, genetics, and bio-engineering, useful information to a cryptek. As the combat medic worked to collect the gene seed of another of his battle-brothers, a phased wraith came up behind him and with the utmost precision phased a custom batch of mindshackle scarabs into the apothacary's brain to subtly absorb his knowledge and transmit it back to the cryptek. With its task complete, the canoptek wraith phased back underground for its next task.

Farseer Taldeer watched in silent horror as the Avatar of Kaine fell to concentrated lascannon fire and the psychic attacks of the librarians. Her vision had failed her as her forces were being pushed back and systematically slaughtered by these primitives. The final nail in their proverbial coffin was hammered as the last warp gate fell. Yet even amidst their failure to defend their base, their mission objectives if not in whole but in part must be seen to: to prevent the awakening of the Necrons. Even this was under threat as one of the hidden inhibitors began to report an error.

Reluctant as she was to give such an order, she ordered several of the remaining elements of her base to teleport into the main chamber of the Necron catacombs below, while she drew her blade to distract the Space marines. Unseen to either side, canoptek scarabs climbed the warp gates and began to enter the structure of the gates, in order to extract and teleport specific components before the space marines placed charges at the base of the gates. The scarbs completed most of their work before the charges brought the webway gates crashing down.

"You fools!" What have you done?!" The farseer screamed as the energies of the gates was channeled downward.

When what remained of the Eldar base teleported to the catacombs below, the Harlequin in charge noted immediately that there was something horrifically wrong with the tomb.

"Where are the stasis pods?" one of their remaining bonesingers asked.

As the Eldar looked about, they saw alcoves where the stasis pods were. What was more, where the tomb was once somewhat in disrepair and had several systems without power, now every system was powered and looking as new as the day it was built…. minus the occupants.

"This feels wrong…" Said the harlequin.

A sound began to echo through the chamber, a sound of metal against metal. The group drew their weapons when they saw a large main eye surrounded by many others like that of a canoptek spyder and the emblem of the nercontyr emblazoned on his chestplate. When Cirrikan entered their view, even in the midst of the changes he had made to himself, his form identified his status in Necron society.

"Cryptek." Whispered the bonesinger.

"Correct." Said Cirrikan.

Swarms of scarabs flooded the chamber.

As the tomb's Eternity Gate flared to life as it did when the stasis pods had been moved individually to the tomb in the Deimos peninsula, Cirrikan sent through freshly created stasis pods containing the forms of the Eldar, Ork Nobs, and space marines frozen in time. The gate rerouted the pods to the cryptek's research vessel which was undergoing massive reconstruction into a variation of the _Scythe_ -class harvester ship.

The cryptek himself connected to an eternity gate northeast of the Thur'Abis plateau.

No sooner had the cryptek left, then the tomb shook with a quake, a foreboding event unwitnessed.

18-year old Markus Til was patrolling the plains a few miles short of Victory bay. He was drafted into the Imperial Guard from the flow of people who fled the Tau. Before that, he was at a college with both human and Tau faculty. To say the least, what he was majoring in was difficult but challenging. He was dual majoring in Engineering principles and Combat tactics, hoping to join the ranks of the Tau's Earth Caste Engineers. Alas, as extremists among the humans living under the Tau, killed many Tau in open rebellion and fled the city for Victory bay, The Tau faculty encouraged the human students and faculty to leave with them for fear of reprisal from the Tau military command.

While initially greeted by the 1st Kronus Regiment, they found out quickly that the marginal restrictions of the Tau did not even remotely compare to the strict religious fanaticism of the Imperium. All of the humans that were recruited from the residents of Kronus were grouped into 5th company. Keeping a wary eye on them was Commissar Anton Gebbett with his Ogryn entourage. The commissar was an unrelenting and hated man, who treated 5th company harshly. Fear went with the role of the Commissar but his occasional executions of 5th company inspired action but it also inspired hatred, hatred of him… hatred of the governor-militant… hatred of the Imperium.

However this quiet hatred was concealed in the face of the Commissar. The idea for the commissar was to rally his men and while they did rally, it was not to him but rather to Markus Til…. hence why he was out "patrolling" alone. Though there were many in his company who were older than him, Markus Til was a charismatic yet humble presence in 5th Company. His voice gentle and soothing. Yet when he spoke the company would fall silent to hear him. His words inspired action, more so than the commissar's did.

On the three occasions 5th company went to battle against the Tau military, Markus coordinated squadmates with clever, impromptu tactics, playing to the strengths of each man, as opposed to the deliberately blunt tactics of the Commissar. After each battle, the commissar in a fit of rage had him publically whipped then sent him on patrol, like that very night, hoping an enemy sniper would claim his life. The commissar was not so blinded as to simply execute the soldier for he knew that that would make him a martyr.

In spite of the pain of his torn skin, Markus boldly performed his task for the sake of his squadmates. His mind occupied with a dilemma: They could not stay with the Imperium. They could not return to the Tau and would most definitely be executed en mass if they tried and those with families would likely follow. Now he could devise a strategy that would allow them and their families to leave in the confusion of an attack but the main obstacles was the lack of a destination and the commissar himself.

A voice penetrated the darkness, a voice with a metallic yet familiar resonance," I see your mind has become one of tactics yet the leadership qualities I saw in you have matured."

"Professor Macabee? You're alive?" Markus expressed, peering into the darkness.

Coming into view with the steady eldritch glow of his necrodermis body, came the pariah known as Thomas Macabee," In a manner of speaking."

The 18-year old's tactical mind worked as he tightly gripped his weapon but did not raise it. Up until that point he had only heard of the necrons from rumors in the Imperial ranks, now here he was faced with one, bearing the voice of his old College history professor, a man who regaled his class with stories of battles and discussion of various cultures.

"What happened to you?" Markus asked.

"You may want to sit down. It is a long story." Said the pariah.

Feeling like an anxious schoolboy again, Markus sat down as Professor Macabee spoke.

Within the darkness of the night, perpetuated further by carefully-placed obelisks, Cirrikan had come on site to supervise the covert raising of several Necron buildings and connecting the catacombs beneath the landmass to the Nodal command network. The idea was to provide the Necron lord a steady supply of troops for his invasion of Victory Bay. The cryptek listened in on the conversation between the pariah and the Imperial soldier. While the pariah was not sending any information to the subnodal command network, he was unaware that a cryptek such as himself could remotely access Macabee's audio sensors.

Unsurprisingly, the pariah expressed nothing but contempt for the Necron Lord who killed his archaeological team and turned him into a pariah, though what was surprising was how the pariah held Cirrikan in a significantly more favorable light. The cryptek was interested to hear the Imperial soldier's predicament and he quickly devised a solution, sending construction orders to a dozen spyders. For the survivors rescued from the Chaos legions, Cirrikan restored a small abandoned village for them to live in. But for the number the Imperial soldier Markus was describing a significantly greater number was needed to be moved.

The cryptek received a polite request through the subnodal command network from Macabee, requesting to see him along with teleportation coordinates. The cryptek used a variation of teleportation that was smoother and far stealthier as opposed to the green flash of typical teleportation, his variation looked like we was walking through an invisible body of water.

The technomancer walked into the presence of pariah Macabee and the Imperial soldier Markus.

The young Imperial soldier tensed once more at the sight of the 2.75 meter necron, nearly a full meter taller than Professor Macabee.

"Markus, may I present the necron cryptek Cirrikan, the Technomancer, the Artificer, the Architect." The pariah present a few of the cryptek's many titles.

Letting go of his weapon, the Imperial soldier extended a hand. The professor transmitted a codex containing social cues, body language, etc. The cryptek gently took the hand and shook it.

Aspects of his military training showed as the soldier's bearing took a professional stance," Professor Macabee tells me that you can arrange to have my company and their families safely moved out of the city."

"This is possible, not easily, but possible. The question is whether or not they would be willing to cooperate with "xenos."" Said the cryptek.

"If the question is survival, then the answer is yes." Said Markus.

"You will undoubtedly be branded as traitors. You will never be able to join the Imperium ever again." Cirrkian stated.

"We were viewed with suspicion the moment we entered Victory Bay. Our lives would have been as nothing but fodder for the Imperial war machine. I trust my professor and he trusts you, so i will put the fate of myself and my people into your hands. I have no choice." Said Markus.

"Very well. What obstacles need to be removed for us to move your people and the company?" The cryptek asked even though he already knew the answer.

"The commissar, the man who wears a funny hat instead of a helmet into battle." Said the Imperial soldier.

The cryptek extended his hands and opened it, palm up, an eldritch flash revealed a vial full of what looked like liquid metal.

"Give this to all that stand in your way and the flayed ones will seek them out."

Markus tool the vial and slipped it into a pouch. He backed away suddenly when a canoptek wraith phased out of the ground.

"Be at ease. This wraith has been built with medical capabilities, it will attend to your injuries." Said the cryptek.

Reluctantly, the Imperial soldier, removed his gear and took off his shirt to reveal his malnourished body and the flayed skin of his back.

 _I think this upsets me_ , Cirrikan transmitted to Macabee, as the wraith got to work

 _I am enraged. HOW DARE HE ATTACK MY STUDENT! I WILL…._ Started the Archaeology professor before being interrupted by the cryptek.

 _The Flayed Ones will enact a far worse fate than what your inquisitive mind can._ Said Cirrikan.

Repairing the skin was easy on the cellular level, as the cryptek watched through the wraith's eyes. Repairing the comparatively delicate muscle was another matter. For that task, the cryptek subtly worked through the wraith to fabricate a small sophisticated medical variation of a phylactery into the boy's sternum, feeding his body with nanoscarabs which began to flow through his blood stream scanning and getting layout of his body before enacting repairs. After that, the boy was soon feeling energized and significantly better.

"What else stands in our way?" Cirrikan asked.

"You have several groups of basilisk artillery tanks positioned to prevent crossing of the bridge, should you somehow get through the minefield, and any attempt to cross the river to the west. East you have rows and rows of heavy bolter and rocket turrets" Described the soldier," Then you have the Baneblades, those suckers can deliver a single punch, far more devastating than a concentrated artillery strike."

"We will take care of those, just have your people ready to move tomorrow." Said Cirrikan

Markus donned his armor and equipment once more, picked up his weapon and walked off, determined.

After he departed, the Pariah asked the cryptek _, Mindshackle scarabs?_

 _Only to monitor him, not control. He has potential._ The cryptek turned to the Professor, _Go. Prepare your fellow pariahs._

The pariah bowed to the cryptek and promptly headed to the nearby base to use an Eternity gate.

The cryptek's numerous eyes tracked the Imperial soldier, when he suddenly snapped an arm out to the side. The cloak of Darkness fell from the shining form of the Necron Lord, which registered a moment of confusion as to why the artifact failed.

The cryptek looked at the Necron Lord as it went from confusion to the closest expression of anger it was capable of. Vast quantities of information was exchanged between the noble and the cryptek within nanoseconds. The Necron lord was upset at the liberties the cryptek was taking with necron resources and the preservation of some of those infesting the planet.

Cirrikan knew this conflict was inevitable but had a contingency in place just for this instance. Accessing a deeply embedded protocol in the Tomb World's Nodal Command Network, the Necron Lord suddenly found his very mind assaulted by the Tomb World's systems. The Necron Lord stiffened and fell to the ground.

 _You are still needed, noble, your tomb world is merely putting you back on track. Nobles often forget that though they have priority in the network, they do not have absolute control unless they be a technomancer such as myself or the Silent King, to whom I have pledged my undying loyalty. Your territory is the battlefield, mine is science._ The cryptek promptly walked off.

The Necron Lord's eyes flared with eldritch fire as his form rose from the ground, his tactical mind moved to the battle that was to come. His moind was filled with obstacles faced like artillery batteries, heavy vehicles, turrets and minefields. Erased were the thoughts concerning the cryptek, his only desire the restoration of the tomb world.


	5. Invasion of Victory Bay

**Author's Note: I appreciate the reviews some of them made me laugh. keep them coming and I will keep writing. Without further ado…**

As soon as his patrol was finished, Markus Til reentered Victory bay, made his report to the commissar, and made a beeline straight for the barracks. He entered to find the sight of one his men, a man in his early 30s crying in his bed. One of his squadmates whispered in his ear that during the night, the commissar had decided to "motivate" the men to fight by executing the man's only son in front of the squad. The men told him that that was the final straw. Markus simply nodded then proceeded to tell the men about the deal he made with the necrons and all that it involved. The men anxiously listened as he laid out their plan.

Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, the necrons were already on the move. To deal with the minefield, Cirrikan had sent out a low flying swarm of scarabs coordinated by a spyder to systematically locate and dismantle the mines, which conveniently provided the raw materials for the next step. Tapping into the Nodal Command Network for the plan of action, the cryptek volunteered to take out the Imperial Guard's forward mechanized 2nd company.

Accompanied by the pariah's, the cryptek covertly rode his special spyders to carry them underwater to approach the coastline and climb the cliff wall. Using individual scarabs as scouts, they were able to ascertain the best route to the Mars Pattern command center, where this company's Baneblade was undergoing repairs.

It was also that time, that the Necron Lord dropped the Cloak of darkness that was over the base and bring his troops on the march and two awakened Monoliths, one was to cross the river right from the base while the other was to cross on the opposite side of the bridge but before that the troops accompanying it were to prioritize the 2nd Company. Normally, waking monoliths took time to fully power up, but that was one of many ways that a cryptek proved invaluable as he was able to bypass unnecessary activation protocols and reroute power to rapidly bring them to full power.

The forward 2nd mechanized company quickly came to full alert directing their forces away from the cliffside to reinforce their position from the oncoming necrons, giving the cryptek, his spyders, and the pariahs the chance to covertly slip into the Baneblade's bay. The cryptek directed a small swarm of scarabs to scatter throughout the bay and systematically disable the bay's alarms. The cryptek had activated his cloak of darkness, one of many artifacts interweaved into his robes, while the pariahs activated their own variations built into their wrists.

They approached the men working furiously to get the Baneblade into functioning order. Tech-priests ran through their religious litanies as they worked to dismantle the tank's damaged right lascannon turret and the heavy bolter which was melted. They cryptek went from priest to priest, infecting each one with mindshackle scarabs, while the pariahs did the same with each crewman for the Super tank.

Once the bay was under his control, the cryptek directed the cargo bays to open, letting in four spyders, laden with rarely seen necron cargo pods. The spyders put them down, one opening up to unleash a swarm of scarabs which rapidly dismantled the necrodermis box in which they were contained and began their work on the Super tank under the coordinated direction of Cirrikan and his spyders.

The mindshackled humans lined up in a row as the cryptek, in addition to coordinating the work of the scarabs and spyders and monitoring the Nodal command network, he was also sifting through all their memories, extracting relevant information and integrating it with his subnodal command network.

Once he extracted everything he needed, he released them from the influence of the scarabs. Standing in a row, unarmed in front of necron pariahs, armed tomb spyders, and the heavily robed form of some form of necron leadership holding a relatively plain staff with no obvious weaponry, needless to say, their fear was palpable.

"Gentlemen, today, the Imperial guard's presence on this planet will die. Your defenses are being systematically stripped as we speak. By the end of this day, Victory Bay will belong to the Necron Lord of Kronus." Said the cryptek as he looked at each of their faces. Simultaneously he was engaging in a religious discussing with the tech-priests.

The cryptek continued," The Necron Lord of Kronus sees every organic life form on this planet as an infestation of his Tomb World and your extermination is part of his plans. Your only path to survival is to become one of my assets. If you desire to die with your comrades, i understand and will dismantle you on the molecular level right here."

Three of the Baneblade crew stepped forward.

"As you wish." Said Cirrikan.

The scarabs from the tank were suddenly all over them, their screams permeated the room as the scarabs literally ripped them apart. By the time the whirlwind of the mechanical insects cleared, there was not so much as a drop of blood on the floor.

"Anyone else?"

As the air defending the advanced mechanized company was filled with heavy bolter, rocket, and lascannon fire, the necrons continued their deathless march. Even as legion upon legion of the necron warriors fell and disappeared in an eldritch flash, still more legions came behind them.

"WHERE'S OUR FIRE SUPPORT!?" A trooper screamed as he noticed his laspistol was overheating.

The men cheered as an artillery strike rained hell upon the Necron legions but their cheers fell silent as they saw many of the damaged necrons climbing to their feet and behind them, loomed the intimidating presence of a monolith.

"GET THAT BANEBLADE OUT HERE…. NOOOOWWWWW!" Screamed the Commissar.

And it did, crashing straight out of its bay...only under the ministrations of Cirrikan… the Baneblade went from what could have been there hope to their worst nightmare. What emerged was an unholy fusion of Necron and Imperium technology. Much of it's hull had been replaced with thick layers of self-healing necrodermis. Much of it's weaponry had been replaced with necron equivalents.

Tesla cannons arced from what was once lascannons, rotating barrels of heavy gauss flayers delivered rapid highly-accurate barrages, and the mortar had been replaced with the glowing crystal associated with a particle whip. All these weapons were now brought to bear against the Advanced mechanized division, utterly disintegrating infantry, blasting apart vehicles.

The only weapon that seemed unchanged was the main cannon but as the basilisk artillery batteries soon found out, the turret was far more capable under Cirrikan's superior knowledge of technology. The turret aimed in the direction and fired, not projectiles, but rather the pariahs. They would make short work of the artillery.

"5th company, now is the time to show your loyalty to the Emperor. Glory to the first man to die!" Shouted Commissar Anton Gibbet accompanied by his contingent of ogryns. It was a speech that had never failed to motivate men under his command, however instead of cheers, he was met with silent gazes of hatred and defiance. The commissar turned his gaze to the likely culprit: Guardsmen Markus Til. He might have made a fine commissar had he not been under the influence of the foul xeno.

The commissar aimed his laspistol at the malnourished guardsmen, who looked at him without fear or even hatred. A passive face that put the commissar off… for a moment. He squeezed the trigger.

Suddenly, his arm ceased to be there. The shocked commissar looked at the culprit, the hunched-over form of a robotic humanoid skeleton with long claws for fingers, holding his detached arm. The commissar screamed in pain as the shock wore off.

"BOOSSS!" Shouted one of the ogryns only for another one to plunge its claws through his head. The remaining ogryn's looked at the source of these clawed adversaries only to see high in the sky, a spidery form dropping more of these horrors. One of the ogryns slapped one aside with the side of his heavy bolter, send the automaton crashing into the guardsmen who were initially standing in shock themselves.

When the flayed one got up, it turned to bring its claws down on the men it had fallen upon.

"NO!" yelled Markus and the flayed one stopped and instead turned its attention back to the ogryns and commissar, who had taken the time to tie up his stump and draw his sword.

"DIE XENO FILTH" Shouted the commissar as he drove the blade into one of the necrons. The flayed one look briefly at the sword going through it, then back to the commissar. It wrapped it's clawed hand around the commissar's remaining arm and in a short motion snapped his arm.

The commissar yelled in pain again as the bare flayed one grabbed his head in a firm grip and forced the commissar to ground.

"Perhaps your flesh will finally sate us…" Said the flayed one to the commissar, its eyes bearing the unforgiving eldritch fire of the necrons. The other flayed ones had taken down the ogryns, their claws having sliced through both bolter and flesh alike, some still alive. The flayed ones began to drag them out of the area.

"… or perhaps not. Still.. worth a try…" The flayed one said as it dragged the struggling commissar away with the others, removing the sword and casually casting it aside. It was not long after they vanished from sight that they soon heard the screams of both the ogryns and the commissar as the flayed ones practiced their grisly art.

The men of 5th company looked to Markus," What now?"

"Now we sabotage the hellstorm cannon's power supply and get our families to evacuate." Said Guardsmen Til.

The men scrambled into action.

While the two monoliths crossed the river on either side of the bridge, the necron Baneblade blitzed the bridge. Whatever infantrymen survived the tanks weaponry was crushed under the sempiternal weave of the rebuilt tracks. There were Leman Russ tanks on the bridge firing one shell after another at the blitzing Necron Baneblade. The rounds pinged harmlessly off the thick plating of Necrodermis, as the massive machine simply plowed over them, crushing and shredding the tanks under it. As it rolled into the middle of the base, it slowed to open fire on the base taking out man, vehicle, and building alike.

Inside the great vehicle, the cryptek sat in a chair designed for him and connecting him to the growing number of custom-designed necron systems in the Baneblade. Sitting in front of the cryptek was the remaining crew of the Baneblade, sitting frightened at the controls of their evolving vehicle, wondering how much longer until the vehicle no longer needed them.

Cirrikan directed the vehicle's evolution, new power systems came online allowing him to activate the Eternity gate on the back of the vehicle, unleashing newly repaired necron warriors, flayed ones, and Immortals upon the base.

"Move into the Hellstorm cannon channel, put our rear to them, and rotate main turret to 180." Ordered the cryptek.

"But sir, what if they fire the cannon?" Said the driver, wondering if the necron was suicidal.

"I am counting on it." Said the cryptek as the men obeyed.

The super tank moved into position. The hellstorm cannon charged it's barrels.

"SIR!" Yelled the driver, he expected the necron to kill him in return.

He was surprised when he felt a metal hand on his shoulder," Trust me."

The six barrels of destructive energy unleashed their storm upon the tank. The cryptek expanded the Eternity gate on the back of the Baneblade to accommodate the beam which disappeared into it… and emerged from one of the monolith's which had aimed its gate at the governor-militant's headquarters. The blast vaporized the hill where the governor-militant was. Immediately after, the Baneblade fired its main cannon, the "shell" breaking into six pieces which disappeared into the barrels of the Hellstorm cannon.

With the back of the 1st Kronus Regiment command broken, the remaining forces descended into chaos, stabilized into the lull of death under a hail of gauss fire.

The operating crew of the Baneblade looked to the cryptek.

"I sense your fear, however you are still very much useful to me as is your tank. i would like to put each of you into stasis until such a time as you are needed. Now close your eyes and sleep." Said Cirrikan as he used the mindshackle scarabs to render them unconscious before placing each of their bodies into stasis pods built into their very seats.

The cryptek exited the tank, which was teleported to his ship, and approached the group of gathered people whom Macabee informed were composed of 5th company, their friends, and families. The pariah's stood guard as the technomancer approached, his black robes flowing in the wind. The crowd silently parted to reveal a stretcher with a familiar body: the company leader, Markus Til.

Pariah Macabee was on one knee next to bullet-ridden body of the young man. He looked up at the Cirrikan.

 _Can you do anything for him?_ The teacher's emotions conveyed much, a feeling of responsibility for the fate of his student. It also came with a briefing about how he led his men to cleverly charge and disable a Leman russ tank guarding the plasma generators to the cannon. He had taken fire though.

 _At the present, I lack the skill to repair organic damage on this scale,_ Said Cirrikan as he felt the spirit of the pariah fall lower, _however, he has much potential, surely you felt it when he commanded the flayed ones?_

Macabee nodded as the cryptek extended a hand over the body, rapidly forging a self-contained stasis pod around the boy.

 _It is too early to tell but he intrigues me enough to dedicate time, resources, and research._

The cryptek sensed the Necron Lord leaving the area via eternity gate back to the main tomb while the warriors went about the purging of the bay.

"Your leader will be fine in time." Said Cirrkian to the crowd, who looked between him and the stasis pod as it floated to a monolith which had just crossed the channel.

"Your survival was forefront on his mind when he spoke with me." The pod disappeared into the swirling green vortex of the Eternity gate.

"Go through that gate and live. Stay and die. The choice is yours." Said Cirrikan before disappearing through waves in the very air.

The cryptek arrived before the doors that led into the Hellstorm cannon. On the door stood the once-prominent icon of the cybernetic skull cog of the Adeptus mechanicus, yet now the icon was surrounded by the eldritch icon of the Necrons. Before those massive doors was a small hooded figure with a servo-arm desperately trying to get in.

"Magos Paladius." Said Cirrikan.

The Magos whirled around, taking the sight of the cryptek into his multi-sensor gaze. He drew his laspistol, reciting litanies to his Omnissiah. He squeezed the trigger sending crimson lines precisely aimed at the head of the cryptek only for the blasts to splash harmlessly against the advanced necrodermis. Seeing the futility of firing his comparatively primitive pistol, he simply dropped it and took his Omnissian power axe in hand and charged Cirrikan.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" The tech-priest's voice box screeched as he brought the axe down upon the necron.

Cirrikan grabbed the haft of the power weapon and held it. He heard servos whining in protest under the robes of the magos. Cirrikan could sense a brokenness in the individual in front of him, through the tech-preist's implants. Whatever vestige of support he had for his emotions collapsed as he watched his Omnissian power axe turn black and crumble into a swarm of scarabs. The tech-priest fell to his knees, the cryptek was fairly certain that if the man still had tear-ducts he would be crying. The cryptek had no time for this, Cirrikan flicked him in the forehead, knocking the magos out cold. His newly created scarabs forged a stasis tube around the techpriest equipped with an anti-gravity drive that would take him to the Space Marine's territory. It was an agreement he had made with the tech-priest converts before they went into their cocoons to undergo an experimental variation of biotransference.

Once the tube was completed it took off and headed to its destination, Cirrikan turned his attention to the Hellstorm cannon.

 _Crude but has potential_ Thought the cryptek.

He had the leeches inside the barrels serve as beacons for his ship's teleporters to lock onto the weapon and teleport it out.

No sooner had the weapon been teleported then suddenly the Tomb World's Nodal Command network went offline, then came back online… as part of his Subnodal command network with him as the ranking official.

 _What!?_ Cirrikan was thoroughly confused.


	6. Evacuation

Cirrikan analyzed each of the attached catacomb systems and realized one was missing… the main tomb. As impossible as it seemed, something took out the main tomb and its associated systems. The cryptek stumbled as the ground suddenly shook, the Cryptek's nodal Command Network was flooded with warnings of tectonic instability across the whole planet. Bringing up what he had of the Kronus' tomb schematics he found a series of devices that he did not initially recognize until recent events were factored in and he ran a data recovery on what remained of the system archives and inventory.

It revealed that there were seven custom designed Stability Obelisks which were designed to stabilize the very structure of the planet by siphoning off the unstable energy produced by the planet's Uranium core. Running a quick inventory and damage assessment, he found that only two remained operational. One of the ones offline was located in the Diemos peninsula, horribly corroded by the energies of the Warp. He found another was destroyed after he left by the energies of the destroyed warp gates under Tyrea.

Not surprisingly, the Green Coast which featured the Ork horde, its Obelisk was not only destroyed, it pieces were scattered across their camp. Even though he did not visit the catacombs in North Vandea, he also knew that the catacombs beneath were likely offline though the Obelisk was functional. The other functional one was located in the th middle of the Tau city, curiously siphoning more power than the others but not enough to offset the instability of the planet. The final two were located at two major fault points in the main tomb.

The stability system could only sustain the planet with a minimum of five operational Obelisks. The Cryptek could repair the one in the Deimos catacombs easily enough but the Tyrea catacombs were nonresponsive, meaning there was no gating there. As the Command network crunched the numbers, it factored the fact that only Cirrikan had the skill and power to repair the Obelisks, and with the growing instability of the planet, even if he could get five working, the planet will have already past the point of no return in terms of energy saturation. What was more, the planet was not only going to detonate but also rip a hole in space, creating a gravitational anomaly that had the potential to form a small neutron star. At most, restoring the Deimos Obelisk would buy the Necrons time to evacuate to his near-complete ship.

The cryptek wasted no time in having the closest Monolith send him to the Diemos catacombs, where he quickly brought his skills and the power of his staff to bear on the Obelisk. He sent orders throughout the network for all available spyders to coordinate the scarabs and wraiths to placing all necrons back into stasis and converting all pods into self-contained units which were to be interdimensionally compacted to save space. He also sent word to Pariah Macabee to prepare the humans to be placed into stasis and why.

All that being said and done, Cirrikan was not about to abandon those of his people still slumbering under enemy territory but to get at them, he needed the enemy to be clear of the areas above them. Over the several months he was there, Cirrikan had used scarabs to mine each faction for information from data storage mediums of many sorts from cogitators to individuals. He formatted the tectonic data for each of the remaining factions and transmitted it to each of their respective communication signals.

The Tau was the first to respond as they quickly gathered their forces and began to evacuate. Ork anatomy was very resilient but far from indestructible, Warlord Gorgutz had enough sense to verify the information before ordering his WAAAGH! to construct crude rockets. It was in listening to the Space marines' communication frequencies that Cirrikan discovered that they were responsible for the loss of contact with the main tomb by detonating a primitive fission device at a critical juncture of the main chamber. From the cryptek's basic understanding of tactics, it was a bold and brilliant maneuver but considering their present circumstances, far from wise. All the same the space marines got the message and were moving out.

As the cryptek completed his repairs of the Obelisk, even modifying it to have a higher power draw, he had his few medical wraiths upgraded further before having them put to work on the downed Guardsmen Markus Til. With the fate of the Necron Lord of Kronus unknown and the Tomb World's Nodal Command Network down, the cryptek needed new tactical options. Even though Warlord Gorgutz was preparing to take as many of his forces as he could, he could not take them all, so he sent those that were not designated to depart into a frenzy attacking indiscriminately. With the Necrons and the Tau forming a line between them and the Space Marines, Captain Davian Thule pulled his forces back to North Vandea.

The cryptek formed a new subnodal command network for the express purpose of military tactics. The new network drew upon the extracted tactical knowledge from the other races and the experience of the Immortals, the cryptek having been forced to delay putting some of them into stasis. It was then that the Cryptek's new tactician entered the military command network. Though he was still in stasis, Markus' mind was temporarily not.

While the Immortals stated their objections to not only including and alien into the necron military but also promoting him to a rank above them, they were silenced by the network which recognized the cryptek as its highest ranking official. Markus Til, while having his body healed, the nanoscarabs in his body expanded his existing implants to allow the human to connect to the Cryptek's Nodal Command Network. The human was initially confused until Cirrikan sent him an explanatory data packet. Understanding his new role, Markus immediately directed Necron forces to clear the green coast. To further accelerate their push to retrieve his slumbering people, Cirrikan sent the Canoptek baneblade and scorpion. Their push was fast and fierce, utilizing Spyders and necron destroyers as small troop transports. To further reduce the orks numbers, a mobile wall of fully awakened monoliths and flayed ones pressed into the forests burning and slicing as they went.

While that was happening along the Green Coast, the cryptek himself with a division of canoptek spyders moved into the evacuating Tau city of Tashin. The cryptek was neither in the mood nor inclined to fight, so he transmitted a message to the Tau informing them of his intent to access the catacombs beneath their city. The message included a request for a cease-fire in the wake of the pending disaster, his forces would not attack the Tau as long as they did not attack nor interfere with him. Flying through the city, Cirrikan could see through the personal cloaks of the Tau stealth teams, though they tracked his movements, they did not attack. Accompanying the cryptek and his spyders was another storm of scarabs, which once he found the thinnest point between the catacombs below and surface, a mere thought sent the swarm into a downward spiral, drilling into the ground, while other layers took the raw material they gathered and assembled carefully weaved structures to support the actions to come.

Once they penetrated the catacombs, the cryptek connected to the catacomb's systems and patched them into his Nodal Command network. The systems were reported to be in good condition and very well-maintained. The cryptek only needed to instruct the tombs complement of canoptek wraiths, spyders, and scarabs to make the necessary arrangements for the evacuation, which involved modifying each and every stasis pod into self-contained units, then accordingly being sent to the Cryptek's ship. After that, others system's were broken down and repurposed to the ship. With no time to lose, the cryptek left to the next tomb.

Moving across the continent from tomb to tomb, the cryptek brought each one up to be taken down, evacuating their slumbering populations and using their materials for the ship. Building a sturdy ship on the fly for the population of an entire tomb world in such a short amount of time was a tall order but not once did the cryptek consider the task beyond him, he simply moved forward.

As the unstable energy in the planet began to reach critical mass, the cryptek took a personal hand in the last catacomb calling upon his technical skills and the power of his staff to repair the heavily damaged systems of the catacombs beneath the Green coast.

A report from the ship introduced a new problem: The ship could not be finished with the storage capacity needed to support the full complement of a tomb world. Reluctantly, the cryptek ordered his spyders to remove the heads and spines of all necron warriors and flayed ones, the torsos of Immortals, and the upper bodies of destroyers and destroyer Lords. That solved their storage issues and gave them more raw material to work with.

The cryptek worked down to the very last minute making sure every system that could be salvaged was. The very last thing the cryptek took was from what remained of the Main tomb: He had acquired and fully repaired the Tesseract Labyrinth. The last necron on the planet went through the eternity gate, just as the structure of the planet went critical.

Even as the gate deactivated behind him, the cryptek was far from finished. The ship was nearly complete thanks to complex adaptive algorithms of the cryptek's Nodal command network, however the one thing the ship needed to leave the system was a Dolmen gate. For that, the cryptek pulled from storage a couple pieces he had retrieved from the Eldar Warp gates.

The entirety of the necron race had very few crypteks who knew how to make Dolmen gates or any other technological projects that were demanded by the C'tan before the War in Heaven. When it came to such projects, Cirrikan was the cryptek of choice as he was one of few cryptek that was motivated not by prospects of reward but rather by the challenge. At this time, the challenge was merging Eldar technology with necron technology.

With the shockwave of the planet approaching their position, Cirrikan had the ship fully power up and had them aim at another necron system known to the Imperials as the Karuva system.

The system powered up and navigation information entered the dolman gate for its entrance into the Webway. The vessel disappeared into FTL speeds but even then, the cryptek realized something was terribly wrong.

He could hear laughter… and a voice.

" _My my… what is it we have here? A Necron ship. What is more the one who enabled your wretched kind to violate my domain. Time for you to pay for your violation."_ Said the voice.

Before the cryptek could respond or even shut down the Dolmen gate, the ship shook and came apart.


	7. Always on the move

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, been busy at work. Now finally the necron have come to the Sol system.

As far as Cirrikan could tell, the ship was shoved out of the webway. That was the only way cryptek could describe the damage as he brought his abilities to bear coordinating the spyders, scarabs, and canoptek wraiths to repair those of their kind that had been damaged while also repairing the ship's structure. One of the cryptek's numerous senses also detected a gravometric signature which the ship was rapidly approaching. Judging from the signature, the body they were approaching was a moon. The Cryptek's command network came back online and quickly ran the numbers… he was not going to make it, another solution was required.

Rapidly, the ship launched all of its intact monoliths towards the moon. While waiting for it to land he had many of his spyders start to emerge from the monoliths' eternity gate, while unlocking all the stasis pods. It was also that time he launched the other pieces of equipment he had brought with him. He also isolated power systems and the Network Nodes. Curiously, while he took those systems down, he noticed Electromagnetic communication traffic similar to what the Imperium used. Analysis would need to wait until he got his people to safety.

Once the monoliths were on the ground as were all of his canoptek wraiths, spyders, and scarabs, he drew upon another of the solar containment modules and poured it's entire power contents into the ship, supercharged the teleportation system, and mass teleported himself, all the stasis pods, all power system, and the command nodes to the ground around the monoliths. Without hesitating, the cryptek grabbed two of the remaining five solar containment modules, attached them to both ends of his staff, and fired a beam of eldritch power at the now-powerless wreckage of the necron ship. The ship came apart into numerous, small,individual pieces. Emptying another module, they cryptek temporarily modified the particle whip arrays on the monoliths to instead project a shield over the stasis pods as the pieces of necrodermis rained harmlessly around them.

Once the danger to his people was passed, instructions were coordinated through the Command network to the cryptek's assets. The scarabs immediately swarmed over the moon gathering the pieces of the ship. The spyders then began to weave the living metal around the salvaged power systems and Command Network Nodes. New structures began to rise from dusty ground, the beginning of a Necron city. Some of the scarabs had been sent to scout the airless moon. Special care was taken to adapt the city to absorb the solar winds into the city's power grid. While the necrons could easily function in the void of space, his human charges could not. So he had a structure designed to support their needs but also to study them, it was being built adjacent to his structure.

The dimensions of the Obelisks were also ideal for receiving most types of signals. With the Network on stand-by, the cryptek requested analysis of the signal and its source. The Network quickly analysed the planet generally referred to as Earth. Thomas Macabee informed the cryptek that the capital of the Imperium of man, Holy Terra, once went by a similar name. The mention of endeavors of the exploration of Mars drew the attention of the Tech Priests which were part of the network but were undergoing a much more refined and custom variation of the biotransference process in self-contained pods. The cryptek had long range sensors built and scanned for the supposed elaborate industrial architecture of the Greatest Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus… and found none. The planet bore none of what the tech-priests described but curiously, scans did pick up the evidence of a civilization native to the planet or at least there used to be.

More alarming was the scenes of an invasion coming from the human planet. The Pariah's and the modified warriors expressed a desire to help. The cryptek examined Earth's "Internet." Touching upon live camera feeds, he found some things that intrigued him: Some type of variations of the human species manifesting in numerous ways but also some human-resembling races that decided to make Earth their home. Superman, Batman, Hawkgirl, two variations of a "Green Lantern" to name a few, Not to mention the variety of criminals. Things were happening on that planet that was drawing the attention of forces beyond the planet. They cryptek sent two of their few Doom Scythes and a Night Scythe to the planet.

Before he could commit one way or another with the limited forces he had at his disposal, he needed to test the invaders. While he was waiting for them to arrive at the planet, he took up several other projects, including one Markus Til…

Superman pulled himself free of the mountain after having been blasted into one for the third time in a matter of minutes. Superman promptly launched himself after the alien fighters which were chasing Batman's plane. The Dark Knight did his best to navigate through the mountains while dodging the organic-appearing alien fighters with his martian passenger. One of their laser blasts cut off one of his wings. He tried his best to regain control of the craft but before his craft crashed, it was surrounded in a green energy shield.

"What happened?" Batman asked looking around.

"Help has arrived." The Martian announced as Batman finally took in the sight of said "help."

The one whom had caught his plane was none other than one of two of Earth's Green Lanterns, Jon Stewart. Covering him was Hawkgirl as she brought her mace to bear against the alien fighter craft. She destroyed several in rapid succession, while Jon Stewart lowered Batman's plane to a large solid ledge. While the energy field from the Green lantern maneuvered the plane to the ledge, the Martian phased through the canopy and took flight, joining Hawkgirl, Superman, and Green lantern in the sky.

"Sorry I am late, there was an uprising near Rigel IX." The Green lantern explained.

The group attacked in force, superman grabbing and swinging the craft about into each other and mountains, green latern using his power ring to cut through each one, and the martian using his phasing abilities to trick the fighters into shooting each other. Hawkgirl smashed through one fighter and was pursued by another fighter which demonstrated a little more sense than the others as it fired ahead of the thanagarian, detonating some of the cliff face like a frag grenade. The blast stunned Hawkgirl as she fell onto a nearby ledge.

The fighter came about while the thanagarian tried to recover. She was suddenly overshadowed by another figure, a woman in what could be described as an armored corset landed between Hawkgirl and the oncoming fighter

"Allow me." Said the woman.

The fighter fired a rapid series of laser blasts, which using her gold-colored bracers, was deflected by the woman back at the fighter. The fighter was heavily damaged but still maintained its momentum… right at the women. Green lantern showed up in time to project a shield around them which the fighter harmlessly exploded against.

The rest of the fighters broke off their attack and flew towards the city which was covered in dark black clouds. upon them vanishing in there was a series of eldritch green flashes in the clouds.

"What the heck is going on over there?" Said the Green lantern as he landed next to batman while superman brought the bat plane's severed wing.

" I do not know, what I do know is that that is not an effect of the Imperium." Said the Martian.

"The who now?" The flash asked as he just arrived.

"The Imperium. That is the name of the race that now invades your homeworld as it did mine. There is little time, we need to move swiftly if we are to prevent your destruction." Said Jon Jonzz.

Without wasting any time, Superman carefully focused his eye beams to carefully weld together the aircraft's components and the structure of the wing itself.

The Martian gave a brief overview of how his peaceful civilization on Mars was assaulted by the Imperium and how after centuries of warfare, they finally achieved victory through the deployment of a paralyzing nerve agent but at the cost of the remainder of his civilization. He also told how Earth's mars expedition disturbed the stasis chamber which the Imperium was sealed inside of and the loss of the only remaining plant sample for the nerve gas.

"I did not hear of any ruins on mars." Said Superman.

"John mentioned that the Imperium absorbed his people's shape-shifting abilities, they probably infiltrated the government and key positions to minimize resistance." Said the woman in the armored corset.

"Who's the rookie?" Green lantern asked as he looked briefly to Hawkgirl.

"Princess Diana of Themyscira." The woman informed them.

"Themyscira… that would make you one of the fabled Amazons from mythology. If their legendary prowess in battle has any truth, I would take care with whom you refer to as "rookie"" Said batman.

"You just pulled that information off the top of your head?" Green lantern.

"With my plane grounded, I was nothing more than a liability, so I did some research on my plane's computer." Explained Batman.

"If you are going to work with us, you a need a nickname…." Superman said before announcing his idea," Wonder woman."

"Forget the name. What about that?" Said the Lantern as he pointed to the green flashes.

Superman finished his repairs to the batplane," I am finished here, let's go check it out."

With no further argument the improvised team of heroes headed for the city.

A war zone had appeared around the Imperium atmosphere factory as crypt spyders, and scarabs swarmed the three tripods, accompanied by the pariahs, and their new commanding officer Markus Til. Having been dropped off via the Night scythe's Eternity gate before flying to the area on the Earth designated the "Middle East", the group was left with several layers of instructions. They were also accompanied by the necron warriors from the cryptek's outpost with rebuilt high-quality bodies wielding gauss blasters and variable setting tesla carbines with stun settings.

From the outside, the 18 year old tactical progeny looked like( according to earth's standard of measurement) a very well-built 7 foot/ 2.1 meter human but on the inside he had several implants custom made by the cryptek for him. Using his genetic code as a baseline, the cryptek had crafted his own unique variation of necrodermis to both prevent bodily rejection and give the cryptek remote access to his bodily modifications which now included a much more streamlined variation of the space marine modifications.

The cryptek had also crafted a specialized power suit for the human composed of necrodermis with sempiternal weave synchronized with his implants. He was wielding a bare staff based upon the same design as a Staff of Light but without any marks of history. The Staff bore skinning and reaping void blades and integrated gauss blasters on either end.

In addition to their own war scythes which they now wielded easily with one hand, the pariahs also bore freshly-made Dispersion shields to protect their Nemesor-in-training. The superiority of Necron technology was once again made obvious by how the Dispersion shields absorbed the blasts from the invaders tripods. Two of the three walkers had been felled by directed gauss and tesla fire, ripping apart the walkers atomic structure. Markus directed the warriors to bring their weapons to bear against the final walker, concentrating fire on all three legs, compromising its hardened biomechanical structure. The cascade of energy made the legs fracture with a sickening crunch as the walker collapsed under its own weight.

Under the instructions of the cryptek to conceal some of their capabilities, the canoptek spyders and scarabs were to modify and use their legs for mobility. When the walker's head fell to the ground, it was swarmed by the scarabs as they consumed the biomech. Once the mechs' were reduced to raw materials they moved on to their next set of orders which was to descend into the sewers below the city and set up a hidden base, while Markus, the pariahs, and the necron warriors had orders to scout the superhumans and aliens which their sensors indicated were coming. They hid themselves.


	8. Meeting under odd circumstances

**Author's note: Sorry for the late update, life has kept me busy. Anyways, you probably noticed that the picture of this story has a necron. The picture is one i commissioned an artist to draw of Cirrikan. I have posted his pic on Deviantart. Type in "Necron Cryptek Cirrikan, the technomancer" and you will not only get his profile but more details on his wargear.**

It was agreed upon by the group of superheroes that they would split up into teams to address three of the Imperium weather Factories. John Stewart and the Flash would take one in South America, Superman and Hawkgirl would take the one in metropolis, while Batman, J'onn J'onzz, and Wonder Woman went to egypt.

"That's odd." Said Superman as he flew towards the factory into metropolis.

"What is?" Hawkgirl asked, flying adjacent to him.

There were tripods guarding the factory, now there are none. This feels wrong." As he landed close to the factory.

Superman then tried to penetrate the shell of the factory with his laser vision yet it failed to yield.

"Strange.." Said superman as he placed his hand on the wall to find no heat.

"How will we…" *CRASH* Superman snapped his head over to see Hawkgirl had made a hole with her mace.

"Come on, flyboy." Said Hawkgirl as she took the lead.

Superman shrugged and followed her into the factory.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched from the shadows of the buildings by the necrons. They took note of the man of steel and his abilities in addition to those of Hawkgirl's mace.

 _Orders?_ Markus transmitted over the recently-established local nodal command network.

 _Observe via canoptek wraiths. I will dispatch small groups of scarabs to accompany them._ The cryptek replied before cutting off the comm.

It was the vaguest orders Markus had ever received however if the conversation he had with the necron warriors was of any indication, that was intentional. Unmodified Necrons typically had very rigid thought processes but after the cryptek's modification, he was having them practice more flexible thought processes. That was why Markus was put in charge to both put the concept into practice but to avoid the nonsensical.

Markus ordered the Necrons towards the factory.

Batman slipped his plane close to some city ruins, near the atmosphere factory stationed there. He exited his plane just as J'onn J'onzz and Wonder Woman landed nearby to scout. They saw a single tripod guarding the factory. Wonder woman tried to take off only to be halted by batman's hand.

"Look." He said pointing to what initially appeared to be nothing…. until they saw the tracks appearing in the sand with no owner moving towards the walker.

"J'onn?" Batman asked referring to the martian's telekinetic capabilities.

The alien's eyes glowed as his mind scanned the specified area,"I sense nothing."

"So there is something there." Said Wonder Woman.

"He said there is nothing." Said Batman.

"...Like a void?" Diana directed the question to J'onn.

"Yes." Said the martian.

"So you are saying there is something out there trying way too hard to not be seen." The detective surmised what they were saying.

"So the question is… is whomever that is a friend or foe?" Wonder Woman wondered aloud as they watched to see what transpired.

Hidden under a cloak of Darkness, Cirrikan passively scanned the tripod in front of him. He received information from the scarabs and spyders in Metropolis as they dismantled the pair of tripods. in spite of their asymmetrical design, there was little difference in their construction and make-up. While some of the elements were quite strange to him, what intrigued the cryptek was its biomechanical make-up. This required further study. It was for this reason that the cryptek was using his powers of construction and manufacturing in conjunction with some of the abilities of his staff to build scarabs out of the raw materials in the sand beneath them.

The tiny, black, insect-like, canoptek constructs emerged out of the sands and crawled to the walker, unaware of the pending danger to itself. The scarabs then surrounded the legs then promptly began to sink the legs in the sands. By the time the walker realized its danger, it was too late and it's legs slipped fully into the sand, trapped in a prison composed of molecularly-aligned silicon. Buried up to it's "neck" in sand, The walker tried to turn its head to aim it laser before a wave of scarabs came up behind its head and promptly forced the apparatus into the sand sealing it in place with more silicon crystal derived from the sand.

With the walker effectively immobilized and harmless, the cryptek deactivated his cloak and approached it. While holding on to his staff with one hand, the cryptek drew upon local materials to manufacture what he had come to call the experiment phylactery, where purpose-built nanoscarabs were manufactured as needed. Emerging from the sand nearby was a canoptek wraith, which the cryptek handed the spherical device to. The canoptek construct took the phylactery and phased it through the armor of the walker.

As soon as the device was in, it built and deployed networked scarabs to analyze the biotechnology. The cryptek was analyzing the data and preparing to enter the factory when his feet sensed vibration, three dual patterns, footsteps….

The cryptek turned his gaze to three individuals, one he was able to identify as Batman from the planet's internet, the other two he did not know.

The human woman spoke to him," You there, are you friend or foe of all that is right and true?"

 _A rather bold move and question,_ thought Cirrikan.

He decided to answer and employed the method employed by necrons on the rare occasion they decided to talk to "lesser species," which usually involved manipulating sound waves to produce sound using their science rather than anything anyone would recognize as a voice box.

"That would depend on where our definitions of what is right and true differ." The cryptek replied simply leaning against his staff, holding onto it with his two upper arms while withdrawing his lower two into his robes.

"For what reason do you attack these invaders?" The woman asked.

"My reasons are numerous beyond the point expediency, but suffice to say that if your objective is the preservation of human life on this planet, then our goals are, at least in part, synonymous." Said the cryptek.

"My name is Diana, Warrior Princess of Themyscira." The woman introduced herself.

"I am Cirrikan, the Technomancer of the Ogdobekh Dynasty." Said the cryptek, bowing his head in respect. Though she was not necron nobility, the cryptek felt it was only polite to show a modicum of respect.

"What are you?" Asked Batman as he came beside the princess, noting how the cryptek stood well over 2 feet taller than the amazonian.

"My race is referred to as the Necrons, my position in Necron society, cryptek. My position is charged with the creation and care of our technology." Cirrikan explained. The cryptek was hoping to utilize this opportunity to foster an opportunity. By openly offering information, the Cryptek hoped to put up a relatively friendly facade, his work was problematic enough without adding these anomalous beings into the mix.

"J'onn? Have you ever heard of necrons?" batman asked the Martian.

"No. I know no more than you do." Said the Manhunter.

The cryptek gestured towards the factory," Shall we proceed or would you like to continue with the questions?"

"And how do you propose we enter?" Asked the Dark Knight.

The cryptek extended a hand in the direction of the side of the factory, the scarab swarms, now in even greater numbers, emerged from the sands and climbed on the wall, devouring the biometallic surface of the factory creating a hole which the swarms poured through.

The cryptek walked amidst them to the hole followed reluctantly by the other three.

Their entrance did not go unnoticed but their presence was noted second to the swarms. The Imperium fired their weapons at the swarms but to little effect as the tiny mechanical insects burrowed into their flesh and consumed them from the inside, disappearing in a mechanized flood.

The princess had a stone cold look on her face, while J'onn and Batman watched the scarabs at work with fascinated horror. The martian pressed ahead and led the way into the factory, the swarms parting for him like they did the others.

The makeshift group soon came to the central chamber where what look to be some type of crystal was suspended in a red field.

"Remove the ionic crystal and the factory will shut down," Said J'onn pointing to the suspended crystal.

"I have something else in mind…" Said Cirrkian as the scarabs gathered beneath his feet, elevating him to the platform above. There was a control panel next to the crystal and with it an operator, held fast by scarabs. The cryptek seized the operator by the neck, the scarabs letting him to struggle free. With one of his fingers, Cirrikan injected mindshackle and nano scarabs into the creature. The operator's genetic code was made clear to cryptek as was the operation, function, and composition of the ionic crystal. Cirrikan began to modify the Imperium's body utilizing the operator's forcibly-acquired, shape-shifting abilities to take on the form the cryptek desired as he was shoved into the crystal's containment field.

Even as the cryptek was working, the factory shut down, silencing the biomechanical structure, leaving only the screams of its denizens which too were growing less and less.

"Superman and hawkgirl are down." Announced the Martian.

"This factory is down, let's go get them." Said Wonder Woman.

"What about him?" Said batman pointing to the cryptek.

"I will join you later. Though knowing where you are going would be helpful." Said Cirrikan without looking away from his work.

"Metropolis." Said Batman, curious to see how much the alien knew.

"We must depart now." Said J'onn J'onzz," The leader of the Imperium is on his way.

As the group left, Cirrikan accessed the scanners of the Necron moon city, while also dispatching the fighter squadron to the asteroid belt. The sensors scanned the area and there indeed appeared to be a massive vessel heading for the Earth.

"Interesting" Said the Cryptek as the factory began to change around him.


	9. Changes

" Uuuuhhhh…. what happened?" The Flash asked as he roused from unconsciousness. The first thing the speedster noticed was the fact that his legs and arms were stuck to some of the biomechanical material that made up the factory, his body in a position not too dissimilar from the crabwalk.

He looked around him and also immediately noticed that his companions were in a similar state; Green lantern, Batman, Superman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and the martian J'onn J'onzz. His memory cleared enough to recall that upon attempting a rescue of Superman and hawkgirl, they were all gassed.

In spite of his efforts to vibrate himself out of his shackles, they did not yield.

"Can anyone get loose?" The Flash asked.

"Not sure what this stuff is made of but it has me good." Said Superman.

"I am in a similar predicament." Said Wonder Woman.

"I cannot focus enough to use my ring." said John Stewart.

"J'onn? J'onn! Wake up!" Said Superman.

The martian roused and looked to the Man of Steel.

"You shouldn't have risked your lives for us." Superman lectured.

"Would you have done any less for me?" J'onn responded.

"Earth's mightiest heroes. Welcome." Said one of the Imperium as he suddenly shifted into a face Superman knew all too well. the face of the man whom he thought sought world peace through nuclear disarmament.

"Senator Carter." Said a shocked Superman.

"Unfortunately, the real Carter never returned from Mars." Said the Imperium shapeshifter.

"And you used me to weaken Earth's defenses." Said Superman as it dawned on him.

"You were so eager to cooperate." Said the alien.

Under the ledge, out of view of the aliens but well in the sight of the heroes, a small swarm of scarabs began to form words, one after another.

 _Help arriving soon._

The scarabs left when the Flash looked right at Batman, who simply mouthed," Later."

"Thanks to you…" The Senator doppelganger continued,"... the humans were totally helpless against us."

"It's not over yet." Said Superman defiantly.

"Wrong again, Superman." Said the alien as the organic ceiling opened above them, revealing the biomechanical aesthetic of a massive Imperium ship against the stormy sky.

A smaller craft emerged from the vessel and came to hover barely a few feet from the platform.

"All hail the Imperium!" Said the fake Carter.

All the aliens bowed in the direction of the ship as it opened, shooting a column of steam.

It cleared to reveal a floating dark blob of eyes and tentacles. It floated towards the prisoners.

"J'onn J'onzz. It's been a long time." Said the Alien leader cordially.

With a wave of his tentacles, the organic restraints attached to the martian elevated him to the platform before releasing him in front of the leader. Two of the Imperium soldier flanking their leader deployed staffs that arced with electricity. They jabbed J'onn with the staves, J'onn cried out in paid as his form shifted back to his original martian appearance, falling to the ground.

"Much better." Said the Imperium," You have defied us for centuries."

" _And I will never bow before you or any of your kind."_ Said J'onn bravely.

"Then we will personally see to finishing what should have been accomplished long ago- The elimination of the last Martian." Said the Imperium.

The leader's tentacles slipped under J'onn's skin sliding up his arms, though his torso, up his neck into his head. The tentacles then pulled his victim into his gelatinous murky body. J'onn disappeared into the Imperium, arcs of electricity occasionally flashing J'onn's agonized form as the leader tortured him, his screams permeating the room.

"Let go of him you filthy-" Superman yelled as he switched his attention to attempting to break his bonds. Batman noticed that his bonds as well as those of his companions were being carefully consumed by the Black scarabs.

"Yield to us, J'onn J'onzz." Said the Imperium leader.

" _Never!"_ J'onn cried out amidst his pain.

"Why do you resist? Embrace this Truth- After all these years, you have finally lost." The Leader spoke to the Martian.

" _Have I?"_ J'onn asked.

Taken aback, the Imperium drilled his tentacles even deeper into the Martian," You're hiding something. A secret deep in the recesses of your mind. Is this another of your martian tricks?"

" _Do I sense fear?"_ J'onn said in continued defiance.

The martian's confidence disturbed the imperium leader who sent more waves of electricity into J'onn," What are you hiding?!"

J'onn shifted back into his more humanoid form, shouting aloud," NOW!"

A beam of eldritch energy arced from the sky, punching straight through the leader's ship, crashing to the platform in a smouldering ruin. The walls of the factory exploded inwards as skeletal figures carrying oversized weapons and others still staffs equipped with lethal looking blades and tubes similar yet more compact than the ones the other soldiers carried. The Imperium troops fired their weapons at the intruders. The beams struck but barely left a scratch which was quickly healed thanks to the self-repairing alloy. The necrons returned fire, their gauss weapons utterly disintegrating the aliens.

With their bonds sufficiently weakened, the heroes broke free. Dropping his cloak of darkness on the platform adjacent to the factory's ion crystal, Cirrikan directed scarabs to remake the crystal, which took on a green hue, infecting the structure with eldritch energy. Beams of energy fired from the factory's smokestacks. The skies began to rapidly clear of the alien storm, sunlight showing through the parting clouds.

The Imperium looked about, panicking, when suddenly, phasing through the very ground, mechanical limbs gently wrapped around J'onn, while severing the Imperium's tentacles. The canoptek wraith then carried the injured Martian back through the floor. Deprived of his captive, the painful sunlight coming through the clouds, and his forces being routed, The Imperium attempted to signal for another shuttle.

The clouds cleared to reveal a black monolith in the sky hovering near the Imperium flagship. The Doomsday monolith fired its particle whip, punching a hole into the vessel. The craft began to lose altitude falling towards the factory.

"We need to leave… NOW!" Said Batman.

The heroes flew through the holes in the structure and the necrons teleported elsewhere. The cryptek spotted people trapped in pods and had his canoptek wraiths phase through the floor and rescue them. The Imperium leader screeched as the vessel smashed into the factory and took down several nearby skyscrapers, which were thankfully long evacuated.

The heroes assembled on the Daily planet skyscraper, looking over the wreckage.

"Something's happening." Said Superman as his vision zoomed in on the downed starship.

Batman removed his own binoculars from his utility belt and saw Imperium attempting to exit the ship only to be set upon by the same beetle-like constructs. The aliens seemed to melt into the sea of mechanical insects, holes appeared in the crashed ship as it began to be broken down by the sheer number of them.

"So what now?" Hawkgirl asked.

"I believe the humans tend to rebuild and move on." Said Cirrikan.

All the heroes turned to look at the cryptek.

"Who is this guy?" As John Stewart as he sized up the necron.

"I'm complicated." Said Cirrikan.

"Hey complicated, i'm the Flash." Said the Flash.

The necron only briefly looked at the flash before turned back to the group.

"Come on people, we have more work to do." Said Superman.

The heroes scattered to deal with the remaining invaders.

A month later, all the heroes gathered in a station orbiting the planet, funded by Batman's company.

"That accounts for the last of their race." Said J'onn J'onzz as he and the other heroes watched as the necrons thoroughly exterminated the last of the Imperium, the last of the atmosphere factories collapsing into a sea of scarabs. There was no celebration, no sounds of relief.

The Cryptek had taken the time to go over his race's history to the heros. To say the group was shocked was an understatement. The necron did not mince words, he was brutally honest about how his entire race willing gave up their very souls for immortality and revenge. How they shattered gods and exterminated whole species… the horrors which the Cryptek generalized, left the heroes emotionally confused.

It was this day that they decided to form the Justice League and who would be a part of it.

Superman approached the cryptek," As much as we appreciate your work in defeating the Imperium, if you and your people committed even a fraction of the crimes you claim they did, you are disqualified from joining the league."

The cryptek scanned the faces off the league. J'onn J'onzz, Hawk girl, and Batman were expressionless, Flash and Wonder Woman appeared torn on the subject, and John Stewart and Superman barely concealed hate.

"Also in reflection of your stated crimes, we must ask that you and your people to leave the Earth and its system, never to return." Said Superman.

"That is not within your authority to ask." Said the cryptek.

Superman looked at him,"What? We are Earth's protectors as recognized by most of the governments of the world."

"A vocal recognition with no documentation. I on the other hand..." The cryptek pulled out what looked like a folder full of documents and handed it to Batman. The Dark Knight took it and scanned the documents inside, one by one.

"What are they?" Superman asked.

" Construction contracts, defense contracts with various nations, green Earth projects, recognition by the United Nation of the Sovereign power of the Necron Empire, along with several non-aggression pacts with various nations." The Dark Knight scrutinized every document.

"When did you find the time to do all this?" Wonder Woman asked.

"There is much to be said for not needing sleep and having the ability to teleport to where I am needed." Said the Cryptek.

"This means nothing…" Started John Stewart.

" _This_ means we have no legal reason to exile them from Earth." Said Batman.

"You heard what he told us about his race, they are monsters!" Said the Green lantern.

"Monsters that curiously have done none of the crimes they have claimed against the people of Earth." Said Princess Diana," We have seen their power, we know that in spite of our efforts, they could easily overwhelm us, enslave or even kill us all… but they didn't. Instead, they defended us, are helping us rebuild, and helping the world become a better place. Is their past awful? Yes. But here they are clearly seeking redemption, who are we to deny them?"

"I am grateful for your words, Princess Diana." Said the cryptek bowing to the woman.

"Neither I nor my people bear any hostility to you, League of Justice, your work is noble, where we are not. Even if you had offered, I would have refused for my priority is first and foremost to my people. I am determined to remake them and by living among those that truly live, can we reclaim that. May we all walk together to a new future."

The cryptek promptly teleported away.


	10. The Next Experiment

" _We are here to witness the opening of the Necron embassy, here in New York. The monolithic building you see behind me is not only the diplomatic access point for the United States to the Necron Empire but also the headquarters for Necron company, Szarekh Industries. Over the past two months since the invasion of the Imperium, the Necrons have helped the nations of the world rebuild at a dizzying rate, resulting in a global economic boom."_ It was but one of many news channels talking about the necrons and their remarkable feats of clean-up and construction.

"I am not sure which is scarier, the media's coverage of Cirrikan and his people or that which they do not show." Said John Stewart to Batman.

The Dark Knight merely looked over to other screens showing canoptek spyders using some unseen means to maintain surface tension on the water as they consume mounds of trash that had practically built up on the Pacific. Another showed canoptek scarabs swarming over beaches to break down waste that was left there. Still another demonstrated the groups of scarabs and spyders working to rebuild structures and roads that had been damaged by the alien invasion.

"What is missing from these pictures?" Batman asked the Green Lantern.

The former marine looked at all the images before announcing," Their base of operations. We do not see where they are coming from."

"Exactly. We know they have teleportation technology but as it does not use any form of energy that we recognize, we cannot track them. I spotted one in Gotham and placed a tracer on it."

Batman brought up a hologram of the Earth. A red dot appeared in Gotham. It zipped about as the clock started. It stayed for an hour before disappearing and appearing in Detroit for 30 min before moving to the Middle East. From there it went to China, Australia, Haiti, New York, and…

"The Tower?! It is here in the Tower?!" Said a shocked Green Lantern.

Batman's hands danced over the keyboard as it zoomed in on the cafeteria.

"I'm on it." Said the Green Lantern, who surrounded himself in a green field and soared to the cafeteria.

When he got there he was greeted by an unusual sight. There was no spyder. The first thing he saw was by far the most unusual, the Flash looked exhausted, lounging on a… sofa. Which brought up another point, there was furniture of the nice variation in the cafeteria. The next sight was Hawkgirl and wonder woman talking with the cryptek. Continuing the unusual, the cryptek had changed his attire from the antiquated hooded robes to custom victorian attire, complete with cane, cape coat and top hat with the strange sigil of the necrons on his hat.

"The two of you come from two different schools of thought…" Said the cryptek.

He pointed to Hawkgirl," Considering what you told me about Thanagarian Military, you are a soldier coming from hierarchy, where your decisions are made for you."

He shifted to Wonder Woman," You come from a society of warriors, where your moral code dictates your actions."

"What are you doing here?" John Stewart asked the Cryptek with an accusatory tone.

"We invited him to join us for coffee." Said Diana, lifting up the sweet smelling cup.

"Also to return something…" Said the cryptek reached into his coat and tossed to the Lantern a small device. John Stewart immediately recognized it as one of Batman's tracking devices.

"I certainly hope Mr. Wayne has gathered enough information into the activities of my canoptek spyders. Next time he places one of those on either my canoptek constructs or my people, I will give him a taste of Necron science that he will most assuredly not like." Said the cryptek as he stood.

He tipped his top hat in the direction of the two women," Ladies, until our next meeting."

John Stewart narrowed his eyes as the necron vanished in a flash of green mist.

He turned to Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl," You invited him?"

"He makes for great conversation…" Said Hawkgirl.

"... and he makes a great cup of coffee." Said Wonder Woman

Both of the women smiled as they got up and left the befuddled Green lantern behind.

Cirrikan reappeared, having just used the teleportation grid he had built into the Sol system, into one of the installations he had fashioned inside the asteroids of the asteroid belt. Having been rich in minerals, this particular asteroid became the first of several necrodermis processing and refining centers. Converting raw materials to low-quality necrodermis, though comparatively more complex than the whole of Earth's industrial infrastructure, was a relatively simple thing to the Technomancer. The installation was designed to refine the necrodermis into a higher quality before being utilized.

The cryptek was not so inclined as to simply put his people back into the low-quality bodies they had been cursed with, rather, as he reconstructed them he would grant them bodies of the highest quality regardless of their societal position. As he would soon have the resources to do so, Cirrikan intended to rectify many of the problems that plagued his people. One of the more prominent was the Flayer virus.

The cryptek had quarantined the head and spines of those afflicted with the Flayer virus in a separate asteroid with an isolated Nodal Command Network. In its own way, it was fortunate that the Nodal Command Network was as damaged as it was on Kronus, it had prevented the Flayer Virus from spreading. Plus, when Cirrikan had arrived, he had had the insight to bind them into their own network with Command protocols overriding their individual desires. It was a crude stop-gap measure but it prevented the virus from spreading and was preferable to destroying his people.

The nature of the virus was both mental and physical, meaning the cryptek could not address it directly without risking infection himself. To approach the problem, Cirrikan took another unconventional approach: He allowed certain spyders to gain sentience. This was not a taboo as it was with the Adeptus Mechanicus, it was just generally considered unnecessary as their society worked just fine with the constructs as they were. However, as the virus attacked Necron essences, the constructs were naturally immune, making them ideal for the work he had in mind.

With a certain measure of foresight, the cryptek decided to have the sentient spyders and attached canoptek medical wraiths practice on human diseases with similar degenerative properties such as Alzheimer's and Dementia. While incapable of emotions, the sentient spyders took to their new task with some degree of enthusiasm.

Leaving the cure for the Flayer virus in the hands of his spyders, the cryptek refocused on the damage he could fix; the neurologically damaged, effectively known as the destroyers. The cryptek examined each of the destroyers and developed individualized repair procedures for each including planned upgrades for each unit. The cryptek sent the individual repair procedures to the Nodal Engineering Network, another of his experimental ideas. Cirrikan designed the Nodal Engineering Network to supplement the Nodal Military Network and, if successful, would be added to existing Nodal Command Networks when he returned to his universe. The idea was to create a system that could more adaptively address larger technical problems that plagued Tomb Worlds.

The NEN was designed to arrange all canoptek wraith, spyders, and scarabs into what was generally referred by the humans as a BEOWULF cluster or networking on a process level. The purpose was to give the constructs more flexibility and problem-solving capabilities, while simultaneously avoiding sentience. The cryptek doubted the other cryptek conclaves cared to remember their scientific history when they were necrontyr of when they mapped the path to machine sentience. The map detailed how a machine mind could be balanced between problem-solving capability and restraint. There was little doubt in Cirrikan's mind that it was the further research of this map that Illuminor Szeras developed Biotransference and the attachment to the Nodal Command Networks.

With all tasks readied to be taken up by their charges, Cirrikan teleported to another location that he decided needed an immense overhaul: The city of Chicago in the state of Illinois.

As more necron warriors were rebuilt, upgraded, and became available, they were mostly sent to Chicago to both aid the struggling police force and protect people who wished to be free of the gangs. Naturally, the gangs did not take kindly to the Necron incursion into what they viewed as their territory. Especially, as they pushed their way into rebuilding industries and breathing new life into the city. Rather than taking gauss weaponry to deal with the gangs permanently, Cirrikan opted for a solution that would starve the gangs out of ammo, resources and territory. Being as resilient as they were, Necrons were ideal to be bullet sponges and crime recorders.

This was but one step the cryptek took to dealing with the gangs. To remove their drug user customer base, the cryptek fabricated more canoptek medical wraiths equipped with a variant of the mindshackle scarabs designed to reset the drug user's brain chemistry. From there, the necrons, would turn them over to industries funded by the Necron Empire to get them back on their feet and train them with job skills which they would in turn use. Finally with the permission of the mayor, Cirrikan was given samples of each drug which he used to integrate into scarab swarms which would then hunt down and break down the drugs into more raw materials, short of those needed for evidence when drug busts took place.

Cirrikan teleported next to a teleportation node disguised as a quite-functional fire hydrant. Joining him, was a lychguard or to be accurate, a lychguard potential. The individual, named Neras, had been personally repaired from his former status as a Destroyer. When he was a Necrontyr, he was a candidate in training for the position of a lychguard but when the species-wide biotransference took place his essence had been relegated to that of a low-quality warrior frame. What was more overlapping maintenance had decayed his systems further for the Destroyer condition to come into being.

The cryptek rebuilt him from his very core with much higher quality necrodermis material, reconstructing his mind and memories. This rebuild had left Cirrikan wondering how many other rare gems were hidden in the poor-quality bodies his people had been condemned with. The research of apotheosis had taken a significant leap forwards with the acquisition and analysis of Imperium Biotechnology in addition to the cryptek's exploration into genetics. Cirrikan had developed a custom-tailored necrodermis variation of DNA, which he used to develop Neras present body. As Cirrikan doubted that his people would want to go back to their short-lived agonizing lives, he instead to recreate a new genetic baseline from the ground up, inching their necrodermis bodies back into life.

Neras looked less like the skeletal form of the necrons and more like that of a muscular human, complete with the necron technological equivalent of muscle and skin. The new frame not only retained it's self-repair capabilities but also made it easier to repair. Cirrikan would tinker with it more over time, but the new Lychguard seemed to very much enjoy the sensation of feeling the wind blow across his silvery arms while the rest of his body bore highly advanced circuitry. Also liberating his mind of a significant portion of his hard-locked programming had an unusual side-effect of the Lychguard being very loyal to the Cryptek yet also very inquisitive.

" _Why the Great Sleep?"_ Neras asked the cryptek through their network.

" _Numerous reasons. First, our numbers were devastated after we shattered the majority of the remaining C'tan and sealed them away for direst need. We needed to repair our numbers. Second, if we were to reclaim life itself, life needed to return to the barren galaxy."_ The Cryptek explained as they walked the sidewalk.

" _What of your work here? On this planet? Why do we not subject it under Necron rule?"_ Neras asked with an energy befitting the age he was prior to biotransference.

" _Our presence here is unexpected but there are many opportunities to explore with the planet as it is. Also, we are in a separate universe, meaning that our race has no claim here. We are guests here and regardless of how primitive they are, we must behave as such. As for my work, it too can be fostered here. You yourself are a sign of progress. We will claim life once again but not as the short-lived miserable forms we were but rather reborn as living immortals, strong and noble. This is but a taste of the potential of my vision."_ Said the Technomancer.

" _Then if you will have me, I would be your personal lychguard."_ Said Neras

" _Your enthusiasm is palpable however, your lychguard training is incomplete and lacking, as such you need to fill the gap with what this world has to offer."_ Advised the Cryptek.

" _What could the primitive fleshlings possibly teach us?"_ Asked Neras belligerently.

" _Humility for starters. There is no greater obstacle to personal development than the wall of your own pride. Among the many obstacles our people face to moving forwards is our refusal to learn, thinking we have achieved the pinnacle of everything there is to know, yet we pine to live again, we are beset by age and disease even in our metal bodies, our society is stagnated. We must embrace change and seek to learn to new things regardless of source."_ The cryptek's tone was subtle, yet bore utter conviction.

The lychguard internally was taken aback by this expression of emotion, something that was practically alien to come from such a venerable being yet it evidenced a level of progress in what the cryptek spoke of.

" _I will abide by the will of the Technomancer."_ Said Neras in submission.

The two of them walked to the front of a Necron business building. The cryptek led the lychguard into the structure's laboratories which housed an examination table. Cirrikan gestured for Neras to climb on. While the lychguard-in-training climbed onto the table, the cryptek unleashed the interdimensional shackles on his cane, shifting it back into his Staff of Creation. He placed the staff onto a holder before turning his attention to Neras. He mentally activated the teleportation grid summoning an ingot of high-quality necrodermis to his hand. All four of his arms activated his built-in energy tools, using the exotic energy exclusive to his race's technology.

Ingot began to shift and change as a ball separated from the ingot as he approached Neras. The cryptek extended a hand to Neras face. The glow of former warrior's eyes went out as his systems entered stand-by. The cryptek extended a hand over Neras head as his energy tools began to rework the skull-like head into a more human-shaped skull. Two more spheres of material left the ingot. Two of Cirrikan's hands enclosed around the spheres. His hands opened to reveal two very human-like eyeballs with emerald irises. Synthetic muscle began to form on the head followed by skin.

More ingots appeared in the air near the cryptek as the first reshaped into the familiar form of a canoptek leech to facilitate his research remotely. He placed the leech inside Neras chest cavity as it was reshaped as well. The cryptek brought many a theoretical idea into being as he rebuilt the warrior. When the cryptek was finished, Neras looked like a powerfully built young human male, complete anatomy in every way. The cryptek had completely overhauled Neras nervous system to be as sensitive if not more sensitive than humans were capable of. Eyesight more enhanced, olfactory senses added, hearing improved, taste, and especially all sensation's related to touch.

The cryptek fashioned robes as white hair appeared on Neras' head. The cryptek tied the leech to Neras mind and body. He reached inside, gathered all his memories as a necron and sealed them away along with most of his memories as a necrontyr. He instilled knowledge of every known human language along with an understanding which could have interesting ramifications. Finally, Cirrikan severed Neras from the network and then teleported the necron.

 _So begins my next experiment…_ Thought the cryptek as he submitted his latest work to the sentient canoptek spyders in hopes of it benefitting their own work.

The cryptek turned around to retrieve his staff.

It was gone.


	11. Setting the stage

Thomas Macabee could feel it as the cryptek finished his work. He could no longer hear the voices of the alien network, he could feel the cold air of the room blow across his skin, he could look at an object and not get readouts. He touched his face and felt skin.

"I honestly did not expect you to hold to your word." Said the archaeologist to the cryptek.

"There are still elements of necrodermis in your body, but the cellular regeneration is complete." Said Cirrikan.

Thomas climbed off the table and put on his clothes," so now what?"

"You are free, Dr. Macabee, you are no longer obligated to perform the duties of a Pariah." Said Cirrikan.

"What do I do now?" Asked Macabee.

"I can see several options before you. You can dwell in this world finding citizenship where you may, perhaps even resuming your career as an archaeologist, no further association with my people. You can ally yourself with the government of this world, revealing to them our vulnerabilities but of course you know we would answer in kind and without mercy." Said the cryptek with a casual tone as he delivered the veiled threat," You can also of course, return to our service but I doubt you will."

"Not really, no." Admitted Macabee.

"The last option is for you to be employed by us which of course we can negotiate. As you know by now, the cryptek conclaves are the most susceptible to bargaining. Plus, if you so desire to return to our universe of origin the last two options remain you best options." Said Cirrikan as he looked at the archaeologist with his cyclopean eye.

"What would i do as your employee?" Macabee asked the cryptek.

"What I have in mind is a semi-flexible position where you will be our diplomat, this of course entitles you access to the necron network without being bound to it. It also means you are entitled to have bodyguards." Said Cirrikan.

"Immortals?" Macabee inquired.

"They are too rigid in mind to be reliable, ever loyal soldiers to the Necron Empire. I was thinking some of our rebuilt warriors would be better up to the task." Said the cryptek.

"Very well. Might I sleep on your offer? Thanks to your work, I can finally sleep again." Said Macabee.

"Of course." Said the cryptek as he gestured for the door with his lower arms behind his back.

"Decided to store your staff interdimensionally today?" Macabee asked casually.

"No, someone stole it." Said Cirrikan equally as casual.

"Someone stole your staff?!" Said Macabee suddenly alarmed.

"Do not concern yourself, it will turn up eventually." Said the cryptek, making a shooing motion with his hand.

"One of the most powerful staffs ever made has been stolen and you talk about it as if we were sitting down for tea!" Said the archaeologist.

"Consider our position on this planet, Dr. Macabee. During the invasion of the Imperium we demonstrated in part our military capability to this world, so the world knows we are not to be trifled with. We have proven to be useful allies to those that show us respect. Our influence is global and few would dare think of such an idea. So that removes most government agencies. Now the thief was quiet and to produce so little sound that even I could not hear it, that takes the skill of one who does this for a living." Cirrikan deduced.

"So professional thief. The question is how they managed to slip in and out of here without being noticed by your constructs" Macabee wondered aloud.

"Unless there was no thief…" Cirrikan postulated.

"What?" Asked Macabee, confused.

"Think about it, my movements are too erratic for a good thief to make any kind of plan unless there was a means to tell when I put down my staff." Continued the Cryptek.

"I do not follow." Said Macabee.

"This world has a few things that go beyond the materium, much like the Warp in our universe. I am thinking someone used said arts to separate me from my staff." Said Cirrikan, confident in his conclusion.

"So what are you going to do?" Asked Macabee.

"Wait for the right opportunity. Now go to sleep and think on my offer." Said Cirrikan.

The Archaeologist bowed and left.

The cryptek redirected his attention to the Nodal Engineering Network, going through status reports.

To his pleasure, the sentient Spyders had made a significant breakthrough in regards to the Flayer virus, thanks strongly to Cirrikan's own research. The flayer virus made necrons crave the flesh they once possessed to the point of madness. However, if their bodies were improved, duplicating the sensations of the living, then that gave the spyders the chance to repair their minds which had been damaged by madness. It was not a cure but it was progress.

As for those afflicted with the madness of the destroyers, the progress was immense as many of those that had succumbed had been successfully repaired and were being upgraded, though those that used to be of the greater hierarchy such as lychguards, lords, even an Overlord were proving to be outside the limited abilities of the spyders in spite of their increased complexity. The Technomancer would later need to address each of them personally though he was in no hurry to work on the hierarchy as they would demand the authority they were entitled to and the lychguard would demand the restoration of their assigned charges.

The rigidness of the Immortals was beginning to show somee degrees of flexibility as they began to run drills to understand explore the capabilities of their enhanced bodies, practicing hand-to-hand combat which their former bodies were too slow and clumsy to execute. Knowing that the Immortals would never ask the cryptek to create new weapons to capitalize on their newfound capabilities, Cirrikan took the opportunity to do so with great delight.

The first new weapon the cryptek added to the necron arsenal was the gauss pistol. Though only 47% the destructive power of a gauss flayer, it still was a very useful backup weapon.

His next weapons development was numerous iterations and deployments of what he was calling Phase knives. Much like the larger Hyperphase swords, the Phase Knives had superior cutting ability only on a smaller scale when foes came within knife-fighting range.

Taking inspiration from the human minigun, the Technomancer developed the gauss minigun. The weapon was incredibly complex to design, requiring necrodermis of very high quality to withstand the power each individual barrel bore, each on par with the heavy gauss flayer. The weapon's systems were so complex that it required a small dedicated canoptek leech to see to its continuous maintenance. The result was… to say the least… devastating as the Immortal who volunteered to wield the weapon shredded through several meters of fabricated adamantium in a matter of a few, human seconds.

The opportunity to test the new weapons came in the form of a diplomatic request from the United States Secretary of State to rescue a village in the Middle East that had managed to get a cry for help out. The military could not get involved without substantial risk to their soldiers and most of the Justice League left to determine why a bunch of automatons took the Green Lantern away. What was even more curious, as Hawk Girl had explained to Cirrikan was that John Stewart had willingly given them his ring. They departed on a vessel capable of a form of Faster-Than-light travel that the cryptek had never seen before. He sent a sentient cloaked spyder to investigate along with instructions to start setting up a new base upon arrival.

Turning his attention back to the Secretary of State's request, he contacted Markus Til and assigned him the task of rescuing the village and fortifying it. Upgraded Deathmarks were sent ahead out of phase as scouts while two platoons of upgraded warriors, a squad of the upgraded Immortals, three spyders, a medium swarm of scarabs, and a monolith were dispatched from the base in the Middle East that was built over and around an inactive Imperium atmosphere factory.

Markus led the units from the front in his suit. The march was mostly quiet though the Deathmarks reported there was much in the way of armed activity. The advanced surveillance capabilities of the Deathmarks allowed Markus' group to identify friend from foe also the locations of several Improvised Explosive Devices. The IEDs could have easily been avoided or dismantled by the spyders and scarab swarm but Markus decided to let the terrorists experience the horror of the Necrons.

With no small degree of delight, the necrons enjoyed approaching the village in one large row, watching the terrorists' faces go from joy at watching the IEDs go off to utter fear and befuddlement when the affected necrons got back up, their highly advanced repair systems rapidly knitting them back together to resume their approach. They fired the weapons they had ranging from machine guns to RPGs, the bullets simply ricochet off their bodies and the RPGs only succeeded in knocking them off their feet.

Once they were within effective range, Markus gave them the order to fire. Gauss flayers and Tesla carbines fired, disintegrating the armed men. Initially, Markus had compunctions about commanding necrons to kill humans but after reviewing the actions of these cowards, he was more than happy to comply with the US state department.

The extremists soon fled once the futility of their actions was made plain. Markus had the Deathmarks pursue with orders to follow, using mindshackle scarabs to steadily infiltrate their ranks, build up a working knowledge of the full extent of their network, before purging it. The Deathmarks resumed being phased out as they took their new hunt with a disturbing level of glee.

With the extremists uprooted from the village, Markus turned his attention to the village, sending the report through the Nodal Military Network. The NEN responded with spyders walking through the monolith's Eternity Gate, their abdomens rigged to carry cargo. They dropped the supplies in the middle of the village and moved back to the monolith as more spyders emerged accompanied by additional scarab swarms. A sentient spyder coordinated the scarabs and spyders to start building new infrastructure for the village.

Everything from advanced Solar Panels to air conditioning systems, water purifiers to indoor plumbing was planned to be built into the village along with modular defensive structures such as thick walls and subterranean structures to serve as bunkers, supply storage, and infrastructure housing. It was a foregone conclusion that the cryptek was intending to set up in the middle east on an official basis.

It was however confusing to Markus, why was the necron devoting resources to this area? Why were the necrons being so merciful? Why were they, who had technology that was so advanced it was practically magic, bothering to set up primitive infrastructure for these people? What was the cryptek's motivation?

Cirrikan teleported into one of several hundred converted asteroids for necron use. This one was designed for the manufacture, repair, and modification of Necron artifacts. The artifact in question: the Resurrection Sphere from Kronus. It had taken a while for the workshop with its high-precision tools to be finished but now with the workshop's completion and the loss of his staff, Cirrikan decided that it was the ideal time to work on the Sphere.

Much like how many human manufacturers seal up their products with specialized fittings with equally specialized tools, so too do Necron crypteks have specialized energy tools to access the innards of even the most mundane of Necron artifacts. Cirrikan accessed said tools to unlock the structure of the Resurrection Sphere, simultaneously putting the artifact into maintenance mode. The sphere opened like a black flower releasing a long segmented multi-helix strand of silver from its interdimensional compression. A cursory glance would have one think they were looking at DNA and they would not be that far off only this strand was a hundred times longer and a million times more complex.

Cirrikan unlock even more sequences in the strand and it grew to fill and swirl about the room before settling in preset clamps making it look like some incredibly long mechanical snake was laying all over the room. Resurrection Spheres were not difficult to make but they were rather time and resource consuming to make, neither of which crypteks had regular access to under nobility, which made Cirrikan's position unique and he intended to make the most of it. He slid large panels out of the quantum lock that shrunk and locked in place the complex systems that made up the inner workings of the sphere.

Cirrikan could only shake his head at the burned out systems. However, the Technomancer also saw an opportunity for the damaged sphere to become more. He fabricated and integrated several canoptek leeches to systematically repair and modify each and every segment.

All while this was taking place, Cirrikan had his scarabs scour the Earth's libraries and archives to gather more information about the mystical world, examining every legend and myth. It was inside the museum of one of these archives that Cirrkian discovered an odd sight: Wonder Woman breaking in.


	12. Deus ex Machina

The statue, animated to protect the relic Wonder woman acquired from the vase, was finally smashed to enough pieces to where it would not be able to move again. She removed the cylindrical relic clenched in the statue's hand. She turned suddenly when she heard the sound of heavy footfalls. She quickly recognized the green cyclopean eye surrounded by four smaller ones, the top hat, the hunched posture, and the 8 foot form of Cirrikan.

"Apparently you and the statue had a… disagreement?" The cryptek asked Wonder Woman.

"As pleasant as I usually find our conversations, I don't have the time." Said Diana.

Cirrikan removed his top hat and activated the small Eternity gate he built into it. A waterfall of scarabs flooded out of the hat and moved about the museum gathering the pieces of the destroyed statue and the various other debris from the destroyed exhibit, reassembling it good as new. Fortunately, the rebuilt statue remained stationary.

"Teleportation is much faster than flight and my teleportation grid covers most of this solar system. You can use it if you give me an explanation, Diana." Said Cirrikan.

The princess sighed as she decided to tell him," When I left my home, it was against my mother's wishes. After being in the world for some time, I thought it was about time to return home to face the consequences of my actions. When I arrived, i found all of my sisters and my mother turned to stone by a magic-user named Felix Faust. On the promise of returning them to life, he asked me to gather three relics for him and now in less then 18 hours."

"i take he gave a means to find these artifacts?" The cryptek asked.

Diana nodded and pulled three glowing crystals from her pouch," He said these are attuned to the Artifacts."

Cirrikan stared at the gems while he scrolled through multiple energy frequencies most of which were unknown to the human race. The gems suddenly glowed brighters.

"Frequency acquired. Performing global search." The cryptek announced.

Diana stared at him hopefully.

"Found them. Give me a few moments to acquire them." Cirrikan directed the closest scarabs to temporarily reactive their anti-gravity engines and take flight to acquire the artifacts. It was not moments later that the scarabs were teleported with the remaining artifacts in their claws. Cirrikan handed both of the cylindrical relics to a bewildered Diana while the scarabs vanished into his coat sleeves.

"Also, in my own studies Mr. Faust did come up. Shall we make a quick visit to his office?" Asked Cirrikan extending an elbow to her.

Diana gave the cryptek a brief smile as she took his arm.

They both vanished in a haze of green. 

They reappeared in Faust's "office." To Cirrikan it resembled a scene he had plucked from the mind of one of the Dark Mechanicum with skulls topped with until candles about the room, filled with books of arcane text. The only normal thing in the room was the windows and desk. Diana immediately began rummaging through the desk. The cryptek grabbed four books at a time, making the pages soar before his eyes. With every finished book, he swapped them out for another.

He spared a hand to temporarily remove his hat, activating it's built-in Eternity Gate. Several dozen spider-like constructs impacted the floor and immediately moved to the bookshelves to start working their way through the books sendind their gathered knowledge to the cryptek.

"Here." Said Diana as she looked through what appeared to be a journal.

"Oh no…" She gasped as she read.

Cirrkian turned his main eye to her waiting for her to explain as his other four eyes kept reading," Yes?"

"His journal mentions Tartarus, the Pit of Lost Souls." Said Diana.

Cirrikan gestured for her to continue.

"Long Ago in Ancient Times, my mother, Hippolyta, fell in love with a god, Lord Hades. When war broke out between the gods and the ancient foes, the titans, Hades struck a treasonous bargain with the enemy. He would deliver Mount Olympus into the titans' hands. In return, he would be given dominion over all humanity. Hades tricked my mother into opening the gates of Olympus to the invading titans. There was a battle of which the muses still sing. The gods fought back and eventually prevailed."

"As punishment for his treachery, Zeus cast Hades into the Pit of Tartarus, where he would rule over the dead for all eternity. And for her unwitting role in Hades' plot, my mother was charged with guarding the gateway to the Underworld. To make sure the gateway could never be unlocked, its only key was broken up and scattered across the globe."

"My mother told me she kept one of the pieces in the temple as a daily reminder of her eterenal shame." Said Diana as she finished speaking.

"To state the obvious, you are apparently gathering the pieces for Faust to use. Though considering the man's obsession with the "mystical arts," it begs the question of what is there that he wants." Said Cirrikan.

"Supposedly Hades keeps a library there of forbidden knowledge." Said Diana throwing her knowledge in.

"...And the librarian is none other than Hades." Said Cirrikan.

"To think i would be forced to make a choice between freeing Hades and freeing my mother and sisters." Said Diana and she looked to the ground.

"You are a woman committed to Freedom and Justice. i am confident you will find a solution." Said Cirrikan as he called upon his own techno-sorcery to telekinetically assemble the key.

"I wish you could come with. I do not want to face this alone but…" Started Diana as she held her arms, a look of defeat on her face.

"... the laws of your people forbid you from bringing me with you." Finished the cryptek.

Diana nodded.

"I might have a solution for that. A loophole… if you will." Said Cirrikan.

Diana looked at him confused.

"You cannot bring help with you… however… what if I just happen to find it and also happen to help you?" Suggested Cirrikan.

"I cannot just tell you." Said Diana.

"Nor will you have to. I already know where it is." Said Cirrian. Diana stared at him, shocked at his revelation," How could you have? The gods put a shield over Themyscira to protect us from…"

"...the eyes of men?" Interrupted Cirrikan," I am a necron and very little can hide from us…. provided we look that is…"

"So if we are vulnerable to eyes such as yours…" Diana began to think about the implications.

"Return your focus to the task at hand: your people." Said Cirrikan.

"Right. We should get moving." Said Diana, her head back in the game.

"I will take you back to your craft. Afterwards, I will meet you on the island." Said Cirrikan as he teleported them. 

Shortly after dropping off Diana at her Justice League aircraft, Cirrikan teleported to his laboratory. The repairs and modifications that were made to the Resurrection Sphere were completed. Connected to the canoptek leeches which were seeing to the repairs and modification of the sphere had been controlled remotely by the Technomancer, boosting it well beyond its original capabilities. Cirrikan placed it into a new shell with a silvery casing. It pulsed to life with viridian energy as it hovered to over Cirrikan's shoulder.

Cirrikan accessed a dimensional key which allowed him to access the dimension where he housed his own iteration of a Forbidden Archive. Opening it he retrieved two devices before closing the vault and once again locking the vault. He sent orders through the NEN* for very specific constructions. He sent a request to the NMN**: _Launch the Obelisk of Deployment._

Diana flew through the doors of her home. Faust was waiting.

"12 hours. I'm impressed. Have you got the relics?" Asked the sorcerer.

Diana showed him the assembled key," First, free my mother."

"Oh yes. Yes. Of course." Said the Sorcerer as he summoned the stone disk aiming it at Hippolyta," _Raedis Vitae."_

The artifact glowed as the statue shifted to flesh. Diana handed Faust the key while she went to her mother.

"Mother." Diana said affectionately as she embraced her.

"After 3,000 years, the key is finally complete." Faust gloated.

Hippolyta was horrified," Diana, you didn't…"

"Thank you for your assistance, but now that your usefulness is over…" The artifact appeared in his hand again,"... _Petro Fatis!"_

Diana and her mother were petrified into stone. Hidden in a dark corner of the room a scarab watched and listened.

When Diana awoke, she was chained to an ancient pillar.

She looked over to see her mother, similarly unfrozen and chained, facing the door. Faust approached the mechanism, the key in his hands, to unlock the gate to Tartarus.

"I beg you, stop this. You don't know what you're doing." Her mother pleaded with Faust.

 _Where is he? He said he would be here? Was Batman and John Stewart right about him?_ Diana thought as she added her voice to her mother's," Listen to her, she knows Hades, this will not end well for you!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing." Faust declared, belligerently as he approached the lock at the bottom of the stairs before the door," I've dreamt of this moment my entire life. Now, lets not keep our new Lord waiting."

Faust placed the key in its lock and turned it. Ancient mechanisms creaked to life.

"No!" Screamed Hippolyta

The bars holding the doors closed, slid away.

"Hera, help us." Diana exclaimed in horror as the doors opened to a Maelstrom of fire.

A dark shadow appeared amidst the flames and he emerged garbed in black armor and a helmet with angular horns.

" _Free at last!"_ Exclaimed the newly arrived god of the underworld.

Faust bowed before him," Welcome, Lord Hades. To honor you, I've brought an offering."

Seeing the bound Queen of the Amazons, Hades exclaimed," Do my eyes deceive me? Can it be my dearest Hipployta here to greet her Lord and master on his triumphant return from… Ah, but you know what I mean."

The Lord of the Underworld removed his helmet to reveal a handsome face.

Diana was about to voice her objections when a cold metal hand covered her mouth, she looked to see Cirrikan his figure blurred and distorted by shadows. He held a finger over his mouth as she felt her chains release her. The cryptek turned his hand and gestured for her to follow.

Hippolyta simply looked down in shame,"Not a day has passed, that I haven't been reminded of your treachery."

Hades rebuffed her remarks," Not a day has passed that I haven't longed to feel the sweet touch of living flesh."

He touched her face and the queen attempted to shake him off but he grabbed her face and attempted to kiss her.

"My Lord, I've upheld my end of the bargain. I've delivered your freedom and the Amazon Queen. Now i demand what you promised me." Faust stated.

The Lord of the Underworld was briefly upset at being deprived of his moment with Hippolyta but his expression quickly changed to that of a sly smile," Ah yes. Ultimate Knowledge."

Energy emerged from the god's hand as he pressed a finger to Faust's forehead," Ultimately… Pain and suffering are all man will ever know."

Faust's face twisted in agony but no sound came from his mouth as his body aged to that of an old man. The sorcerer fell to his knees, then fell onto his face.

Suddenly Diana emerged from the shadows bringing a black blade down upon her mother's chains. The sword sliced through metal and stone as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Hades was stunned as Diana took the queen's arm and pulled her away from the stone," Hurry Mother!"

"Hippolyta, you didn't tell me you had a daughter." The god of the Tartarus opened his mouth to send a ball of fire after them.

Unseen to anyone, a tiny black mechanical scorpion crawled onto the back of Faust's neck. it dug it's claws, legs and tail under his skin, attaching to his spine. The man groaned in pain but heard a voice in his head: _A sorcerer's power is equated to the size of his library. If ultimate knowledge is to be obtained, you must go to his library._ Faust looked up to the swirls of fire. He suddenly felt empowered by an unearthly energy as he rose to his feet. Like a man possessed he ran and disappeared into Tartarus.

"I wonder if she's as loving as her mother?" Hades stated as he attempted to pursue only to suddenly and painfully be hit by two sickly green blasts. He turned to regard the tall skeletal figures of the necrons as they emerged from the shadows, aiming their gauss flayers at Hades. They fired more blasts at the god, which he replied by opening his mouth to spew flame. initially the warriors resisted the eat until it increased to the point that even the hardiness of their necrodermis frames began to melt. Those damaged phased out as more took their place firing their gauss weapons.

"So you attempt to turn the dead against me?!" Hades shouted angrily making the room rumble with his voice," I am the god of the dead!"

Animated corpses attempted to rise from the ground beneath them only to be set upon by the shadows. The large swarms of scarabs consumed the skeletal warriors before they could even rise.

Cirrikan appeared between Hades and Diana," God of the dead? Hah! For a pitiful planet!" Hades turned his gaze upon the cryptek as he revealed himself.

Cirrikan withdrew one of the items from the Forbidden Archive," Allow me to introduce you to a _galactic_ god of death!"

Cirrikan accessed the artifact, unleashed the shackles, and the room got darker.

"What is this?" Hades demanded before suddenly being hit in the chest by a bolt of pale energy. Hades screamed as his flesh seemed to evaporate to reveal scales, his handsome face vanished to one of horns, eyeslits, fang-toothed mouth, and three tongues.

"Now you see his true face." Said Hippolyta.

"It is of little consequence. The Shard of the Nightbringer hungers and Hades is the tastiest-looking morsel here." Said Cirrkan as the palid form of the Nightbringer emerged, bringing its scythe down upon Hades, who knocked it aside as he rose to his feet. Hades attempted to spew fire at the C'tan shard only for the entity to sweep its arm, extinguishing not only the fire spewed at ti but also all the fire in the chamber, turning the room unnaturally cold.

Hades roared as he charged the floating form of the Shard. The two grappled and Hades opened his mouth to spew fire once more. The Nightbringer responded by opening its mouth unnaturally long and sucked down the flames and began to suck on… something else. Hades broke his hold on the C'tan shard and jumped back, looking tired.

"What was that?" Asked Diana as she, her mother, and the cryptek had moved away from the battle.

"The Shard was feeding upon his essence as it once did to the rest of its kin when it was whole." Said Cirrikan as he waved one of his hands and an obsidian colored device adorned with the hieroglyphs of the necrontyr device, resembling the console for a pipe organ. It resonated cold darkness, even as the sickly green energy synonymous with necron technology emanated from it.

"Who are you? What is this?" Asked the queen of the Amazons.

Cirrikan looked her in the eye and said," I am the Necron Cryptek Cirrikan, Technomancer of the Ogdobekh Dynasty. This is the Organ of Incongruity."

Cirrikan sat at the organ and pressed a single key. no note emerged from the console but an illusion vanished. Diana and her mother looked around in shock as they saw what was once ruins was now floor to ceiling structures of necron design.

"You built a city in those few hours?" Asked Diana very much concerned.

"Not from scratch, most of it was already assembled in our manufacturing facilities. Once the Obelisk of Deployment was phased through the ground here, it was a simple matter to teleport and assemble the relevant infrastructure." Cirrikan explained.

"To do what?" Asked Hippolyta

"To kill a god." Said Cirrikan as he pressed another key and a deep rumble resonated through the chamber. 

The Shard of the Nightbringer shrieked as if in pain as the sound hit it. Hades smiled thinking he finally had an advantage against this creature when another sound, deep but also sickening in some way, shattered his armor. Taken aback by his sudden lack of armor, Hades was unprepared when something dug into his back. he reached behind himself in an attempt to remove whatever was back there. The Nightbringer was similarly assaulted but the assault seemed familiar.

The Shard had just enough sense to look behind itself and see the waiting rebuilt form of a Tesseract Labyrinth. The Nightbringer tried to flee but additional mechanical tendrils shot out to wrap around the C'Tan Shard. The Nightbringer shrieked and clawed like a wild animal struggling to break free, uselessly flinging bolts of energy at its prison. In a new turn in how the Shard was being brought to heel, several canoptek Leeches appeared in its necrodermis skin tubes snaked their way and attached to the leeches. As the Shard of the Nightbringer was finally placed back into containment, the leeches began to drain the Shard of its power. The container sealed around it and disappeared.

Fearful that what became of his foe was what was to become of him, Hades desperately tried to dislodge the necron construct known as a Canoptek sentinel. Unable to find purchase on the construct, Hades backed against one of the nearby obsidian walls in an attempt to smash the construct. He slammed his back against the wall, only instead of hearing an expected crunch, he instead heard a horrifying click. The god of tartarus tried to push himself away from the wall only to find tendrils wrapped around his limbs.

A buzzing sound drew his attention to three wasp-like constructs flying before his face. He breathed fire at them, trying to keep them performing whatever it was they were trying to do. They flew easily out of the path of his flames. Hades tried to lash at them with his tongue only to have all three seized by the constructs. Hades roared in pain as the canoptek acanthrites used their cutting beams to sever his tongues. They released the stumps only to clamber onto his face, leveling their cutting beams at his eyes.

Hippolyta winced as she watched Hades succumb to Cirrikan's remote ministrations. Every keystroke he made on the organ was another source of pain for the god. New hieroglyphs appeared on the wall surrounding Hades and it began to pulse. Hades roared with fire once more only to have it extinguished by two tubes emerging from the wall and slipping into his throat. More and more attached to the god of Tartarus making it a appear as if he was being slowly devoured by the wall.

Diana looked between Cirrikan, her mother, and the visibly weakening Hades, torn. On one hand, her friend the cryptek was doing something to the god of Tartarus that was either a similar or worse fate than that of his own former god of Death. On the other, Hades imprisonment in Tartarus did not bring with it any visible sign of remorse for his actions. Her indecision was cemented when Hades shuddered and went still. The wall of necrodermis pulled him the rest of the way in before leaving behind a smooth surface.

"Is he dead?" Hippolyta asked Cirrikan as he got up from the organ.

"According to the human science observation known as the First Law of Thermodynamics," energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred or changed from one form to another." What i did was convert his essence into a form of energy that is useful to my people. The entity known as Hades, is no more. For all intents and purposes, he has ceased to exist, stripped of all that made him distinct and transformed into nothing but power." Explained Cirrikan. The organ began to fold up on itself, becoming smaller and smaller.

"What of my sisters? You let Faust escape!" Said Diana as she grabbed his coat suddenly.

"Peace. Your highness. When Faust used his artifact to transform you and your mother to and from stone, i was able reverse engineer the process. I took care of that while I was dealing with Hades." The organ which had folded down to a palm-sized box like the Tesseract Labyrinth had, was pulled by unseen force to the cryptek's hand.

"Shall we go to the surface?" Said Cirrikan. Without waiting for permission, the Technomancer grabbed their shoulders and teleported them.

Once the green haze of the Necron's method of teleportation had cleared from her eyes, she saw that her friend had been as good as his word… no… better for her eyes caught scarabs dragging bits of shattered stone and used their science to repair the stone smooth as if it had never been shattered to begin with.

"As grateful as I am to you, Cryptek Cirrikan, for freeing my sisters from stone and my conscience of a long-standing burden, I cannot ignore the fact that my daughter clearly brought you here." Said Hippolyta.

"You are incorrect in that assumption, your majesty." Said Cirrikan, rasing and eyebrow from the Amazonian queen," Your daughter was careful at every turn to avoid revealing your precious island to the world. However, when i came to this world, your island's existence was as plain as day. You may be hidden from men and their devices, but not so the necrons. Your daughter expressed a problem and confided in me as a friend, a notion that I take very seriously. I came of my own volition but as you saw, Faust and the key were merely the symptoms to the true problem: Hades. That problem is now solved."

"You killed a god… as a favor to a friend?" The Queen asked, utterly shocked.

"Plus, my people needed the power… though it was not as much as I was expecting." Said Cirrikan.

"Our gods are weak to you?" Hippolyta was having trouble comprehending what she was hearing.

"If I am being honest, i have had more trouble from minor daemons than I did Hades. Though he did provide some usefulness in regards to power and knowledge concerning my staff." Said Cirrikan.

"Your Staff?" Asked Diana.

"Yes, someone stole it about a month ago. While we were dismantling Hades we perused his mind and found nothing about my staff. He did not even know my people were even here." Said Cirrikan.

"You make it sound like reading his mind was as simple as reading a scroll." Said Diana.

"As contemptible of an individual as he was, he was still of sound mind which was easier than if he was not. All the same, back to the matter of your daughter, your majesty., i believe you will find her actions blameless and in no way a violation of your laws." Said the cryptek.

"You are right that I can find no fault in her actions but that begs the question: why would you, who can kill a god even bother with our laws? You who built a city beneath the ruins under our feet within a few hours?" Asked the exasperated Hippolyta.

Cirrikan looked her dead in the eye," Because it amused me to do so."

*Nodal Engineering Network

**Nodal Military Network


	13. With friends like these

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay but i have been reading many Warhammer 40K Novels for many forms of reference. Books like** _ **The World Engine, Fall of Damnos, Spear of Macragge, Shield of Baal, Caves of Ice,**_ **and most recently** _**Baneblade, Shadowsword,**_ **and** _**Kingsblade**_ **. All of them were good sources of reference in regards to the Warhammer 40K universe, most good for references to the necrons.** _ **Fall of Damnos, Spear of Macragge,**_ **and** _ **Shield of Baal**_ **had interesting perspectives regarding the crypteks which are particularly useful for this fanfic.**

Months had passed since the death of Hades, the air of Themyscira since that time was cold and silent. In spite of her efforts, Hippolyta could not break the cold feeling that had descended upon her home. The Oracle said the gods were silent, the balance had been shattered and was only growing worse but unlike the past where Chaos had gained the upper hand, this time Order had. Hippolyta need only go down to the Necron Tomb city beneath her feet to see it. She had asked the cryptek, before he departed, when the city below would be removed, he had said," When it's task is finished." It had taken a few days for her to realize what that task was: the draining of Tartarus. The gates were long gone, the portal to that realm open but rather than being met with the sight of everlasting flames of torment and screams of agony, there was only the eldritch green of necron hieroglyphs on walls of polished obsidian, the screams silenced to the dull throb of their generators.

The queen knew quickly that her amazon warriors were outclassed in every way by the necrons, any attempt on their part to forcefully remove them would be swatted aside by their cold metal hands. Hippolyta had only just got her people back from stone, she was not about sacrifice them in a futile attack. She sometimes walked the Necron city, the insect-like constructs ignoring her and her sisters' presence to perform unknown functions, looking at the black monolithic structures and hieroglyphs. Themyscira had been invaded and occupied without bloodshed and the amazons had been powerless to stop them.

Then the day came, no more than six score days passed since their arrival, the guards by the gates of Tartarus reported the disappearance of the necron structures in that realm. What was once a place of eternal suffering was now nothing but darkness and silence. Then the gate itself vanished, little doubt the necrons drained Tartarus out of existence. Then the Tomb city itself began to vanish. The amazonians were initially surprised that the necrons would even bother keeping their word, some declared them an honorable race but the queen knew that the necrons simply had moved on, utterly ignoring her people.

Back in chicago, Dr. Macabee, official diplomat on behalf of the Necrons walked into the headquarters of Szarekh Industries, accompanied by necron warriors which towered over him, armed with the cryptek's new gauss pistols attached to their waists as opposed to rifles in their hands. Christmas decorations covered the polished obsidian halls accompanied with integrated gold running like rivers within the polished stone. He nodded to the secretary, whom beamed to him a "Merry Christmas," and ran her hand over one of the hieroglyphs. The sound of stone scraping was heard at the back of the ground floor. Dr. Macabee walked back there and the warriors took up flanking positions adjacent to the outside of the door. Macabee casually waved at a couple people, who clearly thought it was an elevator directly to the boss. As the door sealed, Macabee pressed what looked like a pin bearing the sigil of the Necrontyr. He felt metallic gloves seal over his hands, around his feet. Liquid ran up his neck encasing his head.

He looked through the clear lenses of his helmet and saw the eyes of the necron head above the door light up. The edges around the door lit up and a green mist formed the familiar swirl of an Eternity Gate.

Thomas took a deep breath and stepped through. The sensation of traveling through an Eternity Gate into an airless laboratory in space was unpleasant but it was his role as a diplomat to the necrons. Once he stepped out of the gate into the cavernous chamber that was the cryptek's laboratory, the former archaeologist was treated to an odd sight: Cirrikan dismantled on a table with scarabs and several advanced spyders working on him.

The cryptek's head, which was was mounted on what amounted to an advanced pike while a canoptek wraith worked on his brain, turned to face him, his glowing cyclopean eye indicating he was quite conscious while all this was going on.

"What is all this?" Macabee asked Cirrikan gesturing to the cryptek's status.

"A much needed upgrade, Mr. Macabee. I can only do so many upgrades on myself without help and with my people getting more advanced in the rediscovery of themselves, it is time that I followed suit." Said the cryptek.

"You will beg my pardon for being forwards but I am seeing more than just the advancements you have made to your people." Thomas expressed.

"You are quite correct. Since the theft of my staff, I have decided that maybe a greater degree of integration is necessary and expansion of my existing capabilities." Said the cryptek," Regardless, what news do you bring, Mr. Macabee?"

Thomas pulled out his tablet and began to read off the subjects that required the cryptek's opinion," The King of Atlantis wants to meet the King of the Necrons."

"I hope you informed him that that title belongs to the Silent King and he is not available." said Cirrikan as his body began to be reassembled.

"I did and he said the request has no expiration date. More of courtesy from one king to another." Explained Macabee.

"A rather high degree of respect coming from them, considering how they feel about "surface-dwellers"" Said Cirrikan as his head was detached from the pole and was set onto his rebuilt and more advanced body.

" They recognize our efforts to clean up what they see as their ocean and that little matter you helped resolve concerning the king's family problems." Said Macabee.

The cryptek did not say anything as the final connections were made and Cirrikan's new body glowed with new power. The cryptek tested his new musculature, the interlocking plates shifted to the cryptek's satisfaction. Like a magician, Cirrikan waved one of his four arms and the Victorian attire he had come to enjoy appeared around his body.

"I also have a waiver form the UN permitting us to begin terraforming experiments in the Middle East." Said Macabee proceeding down the list.

"Most excellent, now that Imperium's biotechnology has been fully assimilated, we can begin to explore its potential. I trust negotiations with the US Justice Department are complete and we have complete custody of Dr. Isley?" Cirrikan asked as a cane manifested between his lower arms.

"Why are you so interested in a criminal known as "Poison Ivy?" She is an eco-terrorist." Said Thomas Macabee.

"Necron technology is very capable when it comes to bringing death and destruction but leaves much to be desired when it comes to cultivating life. With the proper "cultivation," I believe Dr. Isley will take her new posting with much gusto." Said the cryptek as he waved a hand and the Eternity gate opened without pause. The two of them went through back into the Szarekh Industries headquarters buildings.

"I have noticed that a few criminals have become so out of necessity or desperation. I gather that I can help reform them, satisfy the justice system, benefit humanity, and most definitely help my people." Said Cirrikan.

"You are certainly opportunistic." Said Macabee.

"Every Cryptek is. The question is whether or not nobility notices enough to care." Said Cirrikan as he exited the building.

"Also I have several… thousand letters of gratitude from the United States military veterans for your medical treatments. In equal measure, we have several complaints and legal injunctions against our facilities which is claimed to not have any medical backing." Said Macabee.

"I am aware. All have been addressed every case examined meticulously in conjunction with the signed paperwork by our own patients. There are very few that have any legitimate bearing, even fewer with legal bearing." Said Cirrikan.

As pair of black rails appeared in the street in front of the building, similar to how Macabee had witness necron structures emerging from the earth. A whistle blew in the distance followed by the sound of of chugging. A locomotive rolled in front of the building pulling a long elegant train.

"Before you ask, a group of individuals asked me to work out the bugs and build a Pennsylvania Railroad class T1 locomotive, though I adapted it into an articulated locomotive… among other things." Explained Cirrikan as he boarded his car.

"You must excuse me, sir, if I say that most of that went over my head." Said Macabee as he followed aboard.

The train whistled as it lurched forward. Macabee joined the cryptek in the front car, which instead of plush furniture as would be expected of a front car passenger, there was the black stone of the necron civilization. Also in the main cabin was Markus Til, whom seemed to have benefited greatly from the cryptek's experiments, the boy having grown into a man.

"I heard you were dabbling with the genetics of the Space Marines. Am i to expect power armor as well?" Said Macabee as he sat next to Markus, being dwarfed by the man.

"All works in progress and many curiosities but one variance I intend to make permanent is a feature you contributed to." Said Cirrikan as he seemed to manipulate unseen controls in the middle of the car.

"Oh and what would that be?" Asked the Archaeologist.

"Your Pariah genetic sequence." Said Cirrikan," As my people recover their essences and grow stronger, an inevitability is vulnerability to the Immaterium. I intend to make certain that as our home galaxy sees the rebirth of the Necrontyr, the Immaterium will also see souls that will forever be denied to them."

"What about the humans that decided to remain with you?" Asked Markus.

"They will get a similar genetic retooling. After all it would not do to have the Immaterium pop-up amidst those who are willing to be under my people." Said Cirrikan as he looked at them.

The train passed through an eternity gate to Gotham.

The train slowed as it soon reached its destination at a red carpet event. Hosted by Wayne Industries, this was was Charity Christmas Ball.

Macabee activated a familiar necron rune which displayed the people outdoors.

"They look surprised." Commented Macabee.

"We are not expected but not uninvited." Said the cryptek as he pulled a finely crafted wood box out of thin air and handed it to Markus.

The cryptek stepped out of the train to the shocked onlookers. Even the local camera crews seemed a loss for words.

Just as Macabee and Markus left the train, they watched the necron extend a hand to the sky and fired a green bolt into the air manifested into multi-colored pyrotechnics, bursts of reds, green, twists of yellows and purples. The silence turned into cheers as the crowd applauded the cryptek's display of power.

Cirrikan tipped his hat to the crowd before heading into the building with the two men in tow.

"Considering what I know about your people, Cirrikan, wasn't that a bit ostentatious?" The archaeologist asked the necron.

"That would depend on the context. You would be surprised how many dynasties demand demonstrations of our skills to determine the worth of our price." said Cirrikan.

Standing under guard just inside the door was the donation collectors. Cirrikan gestured for Markus to place the box on the table. When they opened the box they found four ingots of silvery metal, each stamped with the seal of the United States mint, labeling the ingots as platinum. Cirrikan also handed them signed and stamped paperwork for transfer of material goods along with its exact value at $3,632,800.00.

Their eyes nearly bugged out of their head as they looked at the value and gestured him inside. A butler took Cirrikan and his companions' coats. The cryptek was shown to be wearing a red bow tie and tailcoat with the sigil of the necrontyr embroidered in gold on either side of his coat collar.

The cryptek began to mingle with the intrigued guests, weaving through them. He then moved to a corner of the room where the mainstay of his focus was: the guest children. Many of the parents and grandparents, wary of the alien machine, watched as he talked to the children and began to entertain them in a way not too dissimilar from the enigmatic character Drosselmeier from the play _The Nutcracker_. The children watched with wonder as he made their wishes reality using his techno-sorcery to forge wondrous toys. Macabee could only smile as he watched the children's faces become utterly joyful as the cryptek made the boring ball into a night of magic and wonder.

Many guests applauded the cryptek's showmanship and spoke with him after the children were left glowing with joy among their parents and grandparents. The cryptek's gift-giving did not end with the children as he forged jewelry and watches for the adults and presented them as Christmas gifts. Among one of the individuals to whom he gifted was an aging CEO of a titanium refining, processing, and manufacturing company, a man of aging body but with a fiery spirit and keen mind… one of many the cryptek had come to see.

Amidst all that, the ever keen eyes of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, were on the cryptek, watching his every move. The Dark knight had no doubt the cryptek had an ulterior motive for being there but tracking and predicting the crypteks moves were as difficult as the weather. He had collected an abundance of information on the cryptek but each piece was as confusing as the last. With the message the cryptek passed to him some time ago in one of his visits to the watchtower, he even suspected the necron was deliberately toying with him while simultaneously attending to his unknown business. Whatever he was doing, the cryptek was certainly more powerful then he often let on, having recently discovered the Necron city on the dark side of the moon and the numerous facilities in the asteroid belt. Even more alarming was the reports from John Stewart that there were signs of Necron influence growing outside of the Sol System.

He became so consumed in his own thoughts that he realized that he had lost sight of the alien machine. He looked about until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He whirled around to see the cryptek towering over him.

"Mr. Wayne, a pleasure to make you acquantenance." Said the necron with all the friendliness of a diplomat.

 _Does he not know who I am?_ thought the Dark Knight. Considering the numerous occasions he had run into the necrons, he speculated that it would not be surprising that they would not know.

Bruce put on his smile and shook the cryptek's hand," A pleasure to meet a fellow CEO."

"That it is. A Tireless job. Like the tombs I maintained, one must be vigilant day… and night." Cirrikan had produced a lot of stress into the last word, effectively confirming that the necron was very aware of secret identity but definitely had the tact to say nothing on the matter to others.

"That it is. But that does not seem to stop you from crashing a party you were not invited to." Stated Bruce without breaking character, even a bit of mirth.

"I had recently watched one of your people's traditional Christmas ballet's." Said the cryptek.

"Clearly, the _Nutcracker_." Dick Grayson butted in, holding a cup of punch.

"Indeed. It was quite delightful. A visual and musical expression of childhood wonder, an experience, I must admit, made me recall my long-forgotten childhood and the wonder I felt at seeing the works of our people." Said the cryptek as his necrodermis mouthparts slightly twisted into a rarely warm smile.

Cirrikan received a signal from a source he had not heard from in months: the tech-priests formerly attached to the 1st Kronus regiment.

"Ah excuse me. Something has just come up, i will need to impart my gifts at a later time. Merry Christmas." The cryptek bowed his head before summoning his coat and hat to his hands.

He nodded to Dr. Macabee and Nemesor Til. They followed him out to the train that pulled up.

Once they were inside, Macabee spoke," What a charming holiday. Though I am glad it is over. Almost as exhausting as dealing with politicians."

That got a chuckle out of Markus. Cirrikan raised a monolithic table out of the car floor as the train lurched forwards. He put his cane onto the table which grew and reshaped into its true form: a highly complex warscythe.

Cirrikan manipulated an unseen panel and a pair of canoptek leeches appeared on either side of the warscythe embedded into the table. Green lines flowed from the leeches across the table into the staff. The cryptek positioned all four of his hands over the staff, tiny green pinpricks of light appeared in the palms of his hands. Silvery streams of high-quality necrodermis flowed from the green lights to disappear into the advanced architecture of the staff.

"So… rebuilding your staff?" Asked Macabee.

"In many respects though faced with many limitations, power being the most prominent." Said Cirrikan without looking up," Though I have a few projects to rectify that particular problem."

"Speaking of projects…" Said Markus," I have heard you have selected a few necron warriors to be upgraded into crypteks."

"Very astute, Mr. Til. With our capabilities and potential to learn restored, new opportunities we have not had for 60 million of your years is happening. New crypteks are the least of what is coming." Said the cryptek with a small degree of enthusiasm.

"Like what?" asked Macabee.

"Let's just say that the humans of this Earth have remarkable imaginations. Movies, books, and video games particularly. A treasure trove of new ideas." Said the cryptek as the train began to slow.

The warscythe compressed once more into the cane. The cryptek picked it up and walked with it into the arctic cold.

"Where are we? Asked Macabee as he followed the cryptek off the train.

"Antarctica. Where I left the tech priests and the Blood Ravens." Said Cirrikan as he pointed to a column of steam rising in the distance.

Through the snowfall, one could barely make out a dark form approaching. After half an hour of waiting, the moving structure manifested. Partially resembling a partially-completed, small-scale, land-based Ark Mechanicus, moving over the landscape on several large track assemblies. On either side of the vessel, the large prominent skull cog of the Adeptus Mechanicus stood proudly. The gothic architecture rose from the upper aft section of the vehicle attached to the side of two cooling towers. The land ship steered itself parallel to the train dwarfing it by several orders of magnitude. A hiss of steam from one of the many valves in the track assembly slowly brought the vessel to a halt.

A door opened in the side, a large red-armored form of a Blood Raven, carrying his bolter, escorting the smaller forms of the tech priests and their retinues of servitors and servo skulls.

"Mr. Macabee, please return to the train. Your services are not required for this exchange." Said the cryptek.

The ambassador for the necrons returned to the black train, leaving the Technomancer to stand alone. Cirrikan's cyclopean eye easily scanned through the space marine's ceremite power armor, seeing the flesh tensing, little doubt greatly angered at the sight of him yet restrained knowing he was the only one able to return him and his battle-brothers to their galaxy back to their chapter.

The Space marine allowed the red-robed figures to pass him by as they soon stood before the cryptek. Cirrikan looked each of them over. He saw the fully mechanized bodies of those from Kronus, the shivering forms of tech-adepts who had yet to receive their first augmentics. Servo-skulls buzzed about scanning everything, the cryptek making a note that some of the skulls used for the construct being originally derived from the now-fully mechanized tech priests. The servitors were derived from various criminal elements from around the world.

"Glory to the Omnissiah!" Bellowed Magos Veritas, his vox unit blared with crisp detail, doubtless due to the precisely engineered vacuum tubes. It was one of many recreated and appropriately sanctified manufacturing processes reclaimed by the Adeptus Mechanicus acquired from the cryptek.

Cirrikan did not share their fierce theology, his race having long ago shed all forms of religion from their society, though the insight of the Adeptus Mechanicus was rather fascinating… from an archaeological standpoint.

Cirrikan waved one of his hands in the direction of the train. One of the cars opened to reveal a large Eternity gate out of which emerged several floating Spyders carrying cargo containers filled with the unique alloys utilized by the Imperium, including the rare Adamantium. Cirrikan turned to the Magos, reaching into his coat to hand a book filled with blueprints from all over the world. Another book filled with knowledge on metallurgical techniques and alloys.

The Magos had an adept take the volume. The Magos and the cryptek stared at each other as a digital conversation took place. The Magos nodded before turning back to the mobile manufactorum. The Space marine lingered, looking at the cryptek. Cirrikan looked at the Blood Raven," Something on your mind?"

"What happened to my chapter after you abducted me?" Asked the Space marine unused to staring up at someone.

"They defeated the Eldar at North Vandea, capturing the Soul Stone of Farseer Taldeer." Said Cirrikan.

"After that?" The Blood Raven pressed.

"Your Captain, Davian Thule made a daring strike into the main tomb into Thur'Abis. He and several of your battle-brothers placed a nuclear device at a critical juncture in them and tomb burying it and destroying the Necron lord of Kronus in the process." Said the Technomancer without any hint of emotion.

"How did you survive?" Asked the Astartes with barely-concealed hatred.

"Simple. I was not present, rather occupied reviving the tomb under what General Alexander called Victory Bay." Said the cryptek.

"And after that?" Asked the Space marine. He was joined by one of the Blood Raven's techmarines, a long-serving veteran of many campaigns unlike the youthful sergeant in front of him.

"Unknown to you, Kronus had a core of uranium. Before the Great Sleep, several Obelisks were constructed to stabilize the planet and in return provide power to the Tomb complex built beneath its surface. There were seven total with a minimum of five needed to maintain the energy load. Unfortunately, with the combination of the ones destroyed in the Green Coast, the Deimos Peninsula, Tyrea, and finally the destruction of the one in the main tomb, it send the planet to cataclysmic failure. I sent all remaining factions a warning about the impending detonation, the Blood Ravens included. Last I heard, your captain Davian Thule made it offworld safety." Said Cirrikan.

"And how am i to know that none of this was a lie?" Asked the sergeant.

"His recounting does bear a grain of truth." Said the techmarine, the sergeant turning in his direction," Our auspex readings did indicate an unusual energy build-up in the planet."

"That still does not tell us if he is telling us the truth." Said the sergeant.

"No, but it is more than anyone would expect to hear from a Xenos. If anything he is at least straightforward unlike the eldar. You patrol is completed. I will take this next watch." Said the techmarine.

The sergeant walked off, the cryptek seeing him grow less tense as he departed. He turned his gaze upon the techmarine, whom while bearing many cybernetics was still largely human and very calm.

"The fortress manufactorum machine spirit has conveyed to me that today my fate is to take a drastic turn, not an end… a turn.. A change." Said the techmarine to Cirrikan.

"That is remarkably… convenient, considering my presence here." Said the cryptek as he turned to look at the icy landscape as the sun reflected through the ice producing a myriad of colors. The stirring of emotion what was once an echo of a memory of emotion was now full-bore back. The mouth of the cryptek curved upward in a smile.

"I do not bring about change unless it is desired…. What was your name?" Asked Cirrikan.

"Techmarine Vernus." The Blood Raven introduced himself,"If there was change to be desired, it would be to remove my chapter's strong affinity for producing psykers. As I have no say in that, I would be happy to simply be free of any sensitivity to the warp."

"I know of many methods of achieving that the first being biotransference…." Started the cryptek.  
"No pariahs." Said the techmarine firmly.

"Full mechanization like some of the senior tech priests here…." Cirrikan continued.

"While that is considered to be the ideal for the Adeptus Mechanicus, with the exception of the Iron Hands and their successor chapters, the idea of reducing our humanity with cybernetics is a terrible thought to the Adeptus Astartes. It is why when we have the choice, we choose to continue serving in the form of a dreadnought." Vernus expressed.

"Finally… the Pariah gene." Cirrikan finished.

"The soulless ones? That is within your capabilities?" Asked Vernus surprised.

"It was my race who engineered it into your species when it was in its infancy. In hopes it would become a weapon against the Immaterium. I doubt your Imperial Scholars even remotely know this but I was there during the War in Heaven, when my people's ancient enemy, the Old Ones grew ever increasingly desperate and began to create beings ever-more sensitive to the Immaterium. The reason Pariah's disturb to the degree that they do is because it is the Warp's hold on that person crying out in its absence. If it is freedom you desire from all power of the Warp, then the Pariah gene is your option." Said the Technomancer.

"I… will think about it." Said Vernus, he then turned to look at the sky to see something tiny approach," What is that?"

Cirrikan turned his gaze to the sky his eyes taking in the flying form of a particular malicious kryptonian supercomputer," Brainiac."


	14. Forging ahead

Cirrikan found himself face-first embedded in the ice after several successive blasts of electromagnetic energy from the kryptonian AI. The first few the Cryptek was able to redirect into the ground which unfortunately melted the ice at his feet and provided another conductive avenue of attack for Brainiac, who sent an indirect blast at the cryptek's feet stunning the cryptek long enough to blast him backwards, damaging several systems. While his necrodermis was rapidly repairing him, the cryptek attempted to pull himself from the ice. His systems were suddenly faced with a physical shock as he suddenly lost contact with his lower body.

Using three of his arms, the cryptek freed his face from the ice and turned over to find his lower body had been severed by Brainiac having formed his legs into a blade and let gravity do the work. The Kryptonian AI freed himself easily from the ice, grabbing the crypteks legs and flinging them far away. Cirrikan was hardly helpless as he rapidly rerouted his damaged systems and using his lower arms as makeshift legs. The cryptek mentally commanded his cane to shift into a warscythe, bringing it to bear against Brainiac. A blizzard had followed the android in obscuring their battle from either the necron train or the ground-based Ark Mechanicus.

Another surprise was made evident when the android caught the cryptek's scythe with one hand, his other spinning rapidly like a drill and stabbing it into the arm hold the scythe and accordingly ripping the arm out and flinging it far in another direction. In the sacrifice of his arm, Cirrikan formed a rudimentary spear point in his other hand and attempted to shove it into Brainiac's chest. However, in one motion the android both slapped the hand away and caught the wrist before ripping that arm off.

Flinging that arm away, Brainiac hit the cryptek with another blast into his chest, knocking Cirrikan off his arms and flat on his back. Before he could react, Brainiac was right on top of him, placing a foot on his torso and ripping his remaining arms off, literally and completely disarming the necron. The android reached down to grab for the cryptek's head," Your knowledge will be mine."

"You will get nothing of the kind, abomination!" Said the vox-laden voice of Vernus, someone the AI had entirely disregarded.  
Before Brainiac could turn to address the techmarine, the Kryptonian android suddenly found his feet pulled out from under him as Verus had slipped his Omnissian power axe between Brainiac's legs and hooked them. Brainiac was pulled with such force that he was flung some distance from Cirrikan. Vernus pursued the machine, axe in hand. Before Brainiac could recover, the techmarine brought his power axe down, right into the android's torso. Sparks erupted from the cut but the damage evidently was far from catastrophic as Brainiac fired a concentrated beam from his forehead, punching through the techmarine's artificer armor.

In spite of his injury, Techmarine Vernus pulled his power axe free of the android's torso and swung the axe up, aiming to end the fight with a blow to the head. Unfortunately, Brainiac caught the axe. Vernus coughed as he struggle to free his axe from the machine's grip with aid of a servo arm. Brainiac grabbed the servo arm and sent High current voltage through both.

As great as the energy-absorbing properties of the techmarine's ceramite armor was, the sheer power pumped into it by Brainiac turned the armor into a conductor. His vox unit produced a unified shriek of pain from both the Astartes and the armor's machine spirit. The armor began to steadily glow as the Brainiac altered the frequency to match that of the armor, producing and effect similar to that of an induction furnace. Brainiac, much like he had done to Cirrikan, ripped off the arm holding the power axe producing another cry of pain. Blood flowed from the wound along with the stench of cooked flesh from inside the armor. Techmarine Vernus fell backwards to the snow and ice producing a hiss from his hot armor.

The android rose to his feet, extending mechanical tentacles to repair the damage from the power axe. He wrenched the weapon free from the severed arm, and with one hand embedded it deeply into the techmarine's waist, the power weapon cutting through ceramite and flesh. Brainiac walked back over to the cryptek, quickly tossing away the limbs that were attempting to crawl back to the necrons torso. Brainiac grabbed the neck of the cryptek. Brainiac extended three tentacle probes from his head and attached them to the cryptek's.

"Tell me, Brainiac…" Said Cirrikan as he focused on the android.

"What is it?" Asked the Kryptonian AI with a raised eyebrow.

"Have you ever seen _The_ _Mummy?_ " Asked Cirrikan.

"I fail to see the rel…." Brainiac was cut off when a storm of scarabs was vomited from the cryptek's mouth into his face.

Brainiac dropped the cryptek, trying to clear the necron constructs which were consuming his face. Cirrikan could only wait as he waited for his limbs to crawl to him, the integrated canoptek leeches automatically extending legs to crawl back to him. Next opportunity, he had other ideas how to improve this self-repair aspect. His legs had been upgraded with the ability to operate independently of his body if they were severed. They soon walked over and fell back to line up with his torso. Viridian energy arced from his spine as metallic tendris from his body. Each of his arms connected one by one, the tears of his sleeves were also repaired.

Brainiac was able to finally able to free himself of the scarabs with a pulse of electromagnetic energy from his body. His face was was sparking with the outer covering eaten away. Before he could turn back to the cryptek, he was suddenly hit by a series of explosives. Emerging from the storm was the other Blood Ravens, firing their bolters, while the tech-priests moved to Vernus' fallen form. In spite of the potency of the rocket-propelled, armor-piercing rounds, they proved unequal to the task of the damaging the durable frame of Superman's foe. However, it did distract the android long enough for the cryptek to complete his self-repairs.

Cirrikan rose to his feet, extending his power spines from under the cape of his cape coat, the leeches finalized his repairs and began to fortify his power systems. He activated his telekinetic systems and summoned his staff to his hands. He activated the warscythe's gauss functions. The cryptek honed in on the android's center mass and unleashed a viridian bolt of destructive energy. It one of a few instances of this happening, Brainiac's body held…. until it became apparent the gauss bolt had weakened it when a bolter round punched right into the machine's torso.

Brainiac registered surprise as his internal systems were compromised. He attempted to upload a copy of his mind to any nearby device only to find himself unable to do so. Another system was compromised as the unknown energy wielded by the necron disintegrated many of his internal systems. He struggled to compensate when one of the strange humans rammed a chainsword into the hole, further damaging his innards. He turned his gaze upon the space marine before grabbing the sword arm and bent the metal to crush the gauntlet in his grip.

As the Blood raven grunted in pain, brainiac effortlessly flung him towards his battle-brothers. He turned to face the cryptek once more only to completely lose contact with one of his arms. Brainiac looked at the stump of his missing limb and noted how clean the cut was down to the atomic level. His other hand once again intercepted the attempted blow from the warscythe, only for him to lose his other arm to another oddly designed sword the cryptek did not have before.

Realizing he was out of options Brainiac attempted to take off only to have himself yanked off his hover platform by another force that his sensors could not detect. The cryptek loomed over him, one of his hands extended over him, clearly utilizing the undetectable force to keep him pinned to the ground. The Space Marines stood away from the cryptek and turned their attention to their injured and fallen battle-brothers.

The necron reached down and grabbed Brainiacs head. The android was suddenly dropped into his own netscape. He could not feel the cryptek invade his mind, but he knew he was. Brainiac tried to do what he always did, erect firewalls, and attempt to assimilate but his attempts were rebuffed with compatibility and syntax errors. Brainiac's software attempted to construct an index key but in spite of all the knowledge of various galactic cultures and technology he had gathered, none of it could provide him with any frame of reference for the necron.

Something was wrong, yet he could not determine what…

 _Reindexing files…_.

 _Operating systems failure…_

Cirrikan used the Map of Sentience to attack the very bonds of Brainiac's consciousness and completely annihilated his processes, stripping the android entirely of his sentience leaving only the information he had accumulated. The outcome would have been the same whether He interfaced with the Kyptonian android or he with the cryptek. The technomancer highly doubted that was the only rendition of Brainiac, there being a high possibility of other copies out in the galaxy.

Initially, superman's foe took him aback with both the power and speed of his physical attacks. One would think it would have been more difficult for the android to rip apart the cryptek, considering Cirrikan had held back the physical attack of a Immaterium Defiler Daemon engine back on Kronus. However, considering that Brainiac was without a doubt configured to fight Kal-El, went only to show how many orders of magnitude greater the kryptonian's sheer strength was.

Cirrikan had additional scarabs break down Brainiac's body, while he went over to check the status of techmarine Vernus. While his interference was unnecessary, the techmarine's effort had generated a debt that needed to be repaid. He doubted either the nobles or many humans would admit it, they had very similar understandings of honor, though they generally reserved that for their own kind. Being of a more flexible caliber, the cryptek liked to think that there was little need to be xenophobic, when there were potential opportunities to be had.

"We cannot allow the Blood Ravens' Master of the Forge to fall where the Emperor's light does not shine upon us." Cirrikan overheard the sergeant he had spoken to earlier, as he had addressed one of the fully mechanized Magos.

"Unfortunately, as broad as our knowledge base is, we lack the means to plan the construction of a dreadnought frame, much less a sarcophagus." replied the Magos.

"There is no apothecary with us and the humans of this world lack the capability to meet our demands. We lack the knowledge to preserve our battle brother." Replied another Blood Raven.

Cirrikan stood at what he approximated to be a respectful distance. The mechanicus and the Blood Ravens were aware of the fact that he was standing there, waiting for them to come to the sole inevitable conclusion: to ask for his help.

"Your Master of the Forge has created an imbalance." Said Cirrikan, deciding to break the ice, as it were," I desire to rectify and repay what I owe."

"You will not bring your xenotech anywhere near him." Said the Sergeant.

"Nor will I. I am offering to fill in the tech priests' knowledge gaps and provide them with the resources needed. I will not directly touch your battle brother. Will that suffice?" Cirrikan asked the Sergeant.

The space marine looked to his battle brothers whom each nodded their ascent.

"You may pay your debt in knowledge, resources, and raw materials but your will not lay a finger on our battle brother's body." Said the sergeant with a note of finality. They then turned to carry him into the young, ground-based, Ark Mechanicus.

The Magos turned and addressed the cryptek in binaric," Not since the Redemptor-pattern has the Adeptus Mechanicus created a new dreadnought. We will need to prepare the proper rites to create something new."

"You and techmarine Vernus will find yourselves very much in demand after we are through." The cryptek replied in binaric," This dreadnought will have its design origins in this Earth's fictional lore and will reflect the dual nature of a techmarine rather than one of the typical dreadnought."

"What are you suggesting?" Asked the Magos.

As they turned to the Ark Mechanicus, Cirrikan asked," Tell me… have you seen _Pacific Rim_?"

In the weeks that followed, the manufactorums and factory temples aboard the Ark Mechanicus, named the _Arizona_ after the fallen United States battleship, were further modified as the cryptek upgraded its capacity and capabilities with partial knowledge gleaned from Brainiac and simple engineering common sense. Alloys and metals, unique to that universe were integrated in many forms into the new dreadnought as it was forged. For the overall design, it was generally agreed upon that the form of the fictional, three-armed mech known as _Crimson Typhoon_ was best suited for the dual nature of the techmarine though significantly scaled down from the cinematic iteration.

To account for the tech priests' lack of knowledge on Adeptus Astartes physiology, they subtly gave the cryptek control of the servitors. Cirrikan recalled the knowledge he had gleaned from the Blood Ravens Apothecary, making major modifications to the sarcophagus and the cybernetics of the techmarine. He doubted an apothecary would realize it was designed by a xeno, more like something from the Dark Age of Technology as it was not only a sophisticated, armored life-support system but also a buffer, memory storage, tactical systems, diagnostic systems and internal high-compression archive system.

While the tech priests were given a fair amount of knowledge to fill their gaps, while the cryptek was in the techmarine's mind he saw greater potential, so he gave more knowledge to the techmarine than to the sum total of what he had given each enginseer and magos. It was an interesting project, helping develop technology that looked like advanced human technology. In the weeks that followed, the project began to be compiled into a volume in a similar format to that of one of the sacred STC printouts. Then the day arrived…

The body of the first venerable Crimson Typhoon-pattern dreadnought was finished. Standing at 6.5 meters, the machine bore several similarities to its fictional counterpart including the digitigrade legs and the three primary arms. Where it differed visually was in iconography and various design elements. The left shoulder, featuring the large shoulder plate of all Space marine armors was covered in a weathered cream color scheme with the icon of the Blood Ravens, the raven with a drop of blood, the Raven made of an Obsidian/ Adamantium alloy while the blood drop was formed of a reinforced Ruby.

The two right shoulder guards were covered with two separate Opus Machina symbols, completing the distinguishment of his dual-loyalty between the Blood Ravens and the Adeptus Mechanicus. The two Cog mechanicum used a mixture of depleted promethium and adamantium alloyed with copper, silver, obsidian and ivory. Unlike the Contemptor-pattern dreadnoughts which had their heads recessed into their chassis, The head of the Crimson Typhoon-patterns stood atop its shoulders boldly and proudly in shape of the techmarine's original helmet. Every part of the dreadnought was a work of art from the Rust-red plating alloyed with Adamantium, depleted Promethium, an interweaving of Nth metal nanotubes, and the Iron sands of Mars to each component machined to the atomic level. Using the imagination and technology of the Earth they were on, combined with the experience and skills of the magos and the cryptek resulting in a machine that they had little doubt could potentially rival the quality and functionality of the dreadnought patterns of the Custodes and the near mythical Grey Knights.

Due to the importance of the moment of activation, Cirrikan had to remain outside while the Tech-priests and specific servitors chanted in binaric, the rites of activation. Covered in parchment and dripping with sacred oils, the machine spirit of the dreadnought rumbled to life and with it, the sarcophagus of techmarine Vernus.

It felt warm. His body in the sarcophagus and curiously comfortable, not cramped or painful like he expected. He knew when he asked what it meant to be interred into a dreadnought. He expected to be deprived of his remaining limbs and reduced to primarily an upper torso. An existence of pain and service. Instead, he could feel his limbs and body comfortably suspended in some type of gelatin. He sensed a machine spirit sending a friendly ping through the implants all along his spine, asking him to rouse into his newly-forged body.

When he willfully connected to the machine spirit, it welcoming him into the embrace of his greater body. Systematically, he became aware of each facet of the complex machine that was the dreadnought body, _his_ dreadnought body. He quickly realized this was not a Castraferrum-pattern dreadnought, not a Redemptor-pattern, or even a Contemptor-pattern, all the systems were simply too advanced yet intuitively simple at the same time. He sensed the power generated from his reactor, a modified thermic reactor using technology spun from Nth metal and fueled by a mixture of uranium, einsteinium, and volatile promethium fueled from three, heavily-armored, removable fuel cells.

He sensed the complex cogitator, archive, and communication suites that worked almost instinctively with his consciousness. He sensed the synthetic muscle fibers and their incredible power derived from the incredible engineering that went into their highly-flexible metal/ crystal fibers. He felt the Primary and secondary auspex systems as they also served as his new body's nervous system. As he examined his new body, system by system, he could sense not only the sheer magnificence of the technology but also its potential to be modified and tinkered with further. No… not potential… desire. Normally, a machine spirit had to be entreated and revered to be altered, something he often had to forcefully bend often being short on the time to do so, but the one in his dreadnought body embraced and shared his idea of adaptation and innovation.

He finally decided to expand his consciousness into the machine. The sensation was a chilling one like sweat on hot skin in a cool room. He could feel the three main arms as if they were his own. He flexed the fingers and could feel them flex. Curiously and unusual for a dreadnought, he could feel several dozen mechandrites, some grouped into modules in various locations on his torso and some in each of his arms, all retracted and hidden behind protective panels when not in use. He sensed the plasma cannon in his left arm, awaiting to transform and dispense the Emperor's fury, similarly he could sense lightning claw functions in stand-by in all his hands.

Finally he lit up the main optics and sensor suite in the head and the feedback was gradually scaled up as he adjusted. Additional auspex and sensor assemblies entered into his mind giving him an all-encompassing awareness, while maintaining his focus on where his head was aimed. He could see and hear with a quality greater than that of his body. Looking around he saw his battle brothers standing beneath him and the tech-priests looking at him.

He considered what to say through his new voice, recalling that neither the Adeptus Mechanicus nor the Blood Ravens delete anything.

"I am awake and aware. Ready to serve the Emperor for the glory of the Omnissiah." Said Vernus at last.

"You remember us?" Asked Sergeant Dexian Vale, one of his fellow battle brothers.

"As clean and clear as Scout Sergeant Cyrus' aim." Said Vernus.

"What about my aim?" Asked scout Neihlem.

"Nothing of note. Before you blame your weapon's machine spirit for the 256th time, I will reiterate that it is functioning fine but its machine spirit is getting very tired of getting blamed for your lack of aim." Said Vernus.

The Blood Ravens laughed,"It is definitely our Master of the Forge."

"As we have the time, I think I will rectify that particular error." Continued Vernus.

"But you are a dreadnought now. You cannot work in the Forge now." Said Scout Neihlem.

"If I was interred in any other pattern of dreadnought, your would be right. However, great care was taken into the design of this new pattern of dreadnought. Not only can I resume my duties as Master of the Forge but I can perform them better than before." Said Vernus, extending numerous tools, servo-arms, and machandrites hidden through his frame.

"I have been granted the opportunity to excel in ways I was not capable of before. I will continue in my duties as Master of the Forge in addition to finding us a way back to our brothers." Said the new dreadnought.

Feeling as natural as his own body, the dreadnought rose on its haunches and walked smoothly out of the forge. Vernus soon emerged into the blizzard landscape. The temperature regulators of his sarcophagus keeping him easily warm yet at the same time his machine spirit was subtly shaping his awareness with temperature readings, wind speed, topographical layout, and… highlighting the distant form of the cryptek.

As Vernus approached the figure, he noted how the cryptek wore what he identified from the Earth's Internet as Victorian style cape coat and top hat.

When he closed within a certain distance, he saw the cryptek wave a hand and the snow soon calmed around them. His auspex readings indicated that some kind of field projected by an unknown energy was rerouting the snow around them. Vernus was not certain if this was a casual display of power or a simple courtesy. He decided to engage in conversation with the xenos.

"No one said anything, nor do my systems place too many labels but I can only assume that you are largely responsible for my present form." Said Vernus.

"Not directly. My knowledge and resources played a significant hand but the work was human or servitor. There is not quantum particle of necron technology present in your frame, rather the full potential of your species that is within your reach." Said Cirrikan, his tone giving way to neither pride nor arrogance, rather a simple statement of fact.

"In my vast experience, I have never seen anything like the technology that is now in my dreadnought frame. I am certain I would be accused of tech heresy." Said Vernus.

"The origins of the concepts employed in your new body are found here on this Earth, both prior to the historical formulation of the Adeptus Mechanicus and completely devoid of the Warp. Plus, your body's construction was overseen by sanctioned members of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Many angles are covered but only time back in our universe will tell if enough were covered." Said the necron.

"You seem awfully concerned about my well being for a xenos and you speak to me with a familiarity you have not…" Vernus paused when the cryptek held up his hand.

"Would addressing you as "Forgemaster" suffice?" Asked Cirrikan.

"It would." Said Vernus.

The Cryptek withdrew what looked to be a pocket watch and looked at it," Then Forgemaster, might i ask that you peruse some of the files I left with your machine spirit? Specifically, the ones on Promethium, Nth metal, and your own internal STC."

"I have an STC?" Asked Vernus, surprised.

"Correct me if i am wrong, humanity has lost huge amounts of information including mostly how to fabricate, repair, or otherwise awaken your fellow interned battle brothers of whom you are now one of them?" Said the cryptek.

With a pause, the Dreadnought finally spoke," It is the truth."

"The idea is to build into every foreseeable dreadnought you will manufacture a cogitator-based manual for fabrication, repair, and awakening thus removing any future possibility of loss." Said the necron.

"All STCs are to be turned over to the Adeptus Mechanicus." Stated Vernus.

"Then they can be presented a copy from you." said Cirrikan as he reached into his coat and extracted a very sizable volume. It was matte black with neither symbol or marking say for the label of gold in High Gothic and binaric on the front cover and spine with gold-infused lettering. In spite of the size of the three fingered hand of his left arm, he was able to grasp the book delicately as he took it reverently from the cryptek. One of his more-articulated right hands began to deftly move the the pages, his auspex systems performing a remote analysis of the pages, identifying the fibers that form each page as tungsten-titanium fibers with lettering of infused brass, gold and silver. It was a book made to last.

"All that is in there is already inside you, plus the capacity for far more. I have other business to attend to. Be well, Forgemaster." Said the cryptek as he released the field and the volume of snow briefly obscured his optics but his auspex readings already registering the cryptek having gone.

Cirrikan easily teleported from Earth to his laboratory, a sure sign of their growing power. Not needing Eternity Gates was a result of both their growing power reserves and the considerable refinement of their teleportation technology. On an even brighter note, the resources poured into the Flayer virus finally yielded both a cure and an immunity, breaking the last vestiges of the plague, brought on by the long-obliterated C'Tan, Llandu'gor, the Flayer. Of course such breakthroughs did not come without the severest of tests: exposing one of his own with the immunization. Several Immortals, ever-serving, volunteered. If the cryptek had lungs, he was sure he would have held his breath as the loyal warriors of the Nercontyr walked among the formerly afflicted. If the virus could be trusted in any regard, it was expediancy, when it failed to manifest, Cirrikan could feel through the recently-established Nodal Social Network, a collective sigh of relief.

To be found among the former flayed ones were additional Immortals, crypteks, and even lychguards. Their restoration brought forth a wave of gratitude they could now feel once again. The Immortals gave the equivalent of a salute, a sign of respect normally reserved for Nemesors or competent Nobility. The restored crypteks quickly found work through the numerous facilities and foundries spread throughout the asteroid belt. The lychguard greatly desired to be permanently attached to Cirrikan as his guard. The technomancer politely declined for two reasons, One, even though the virus appeared cured there was a faint possibility it merely evolved, second, if Cirrikan was to have a lychguard attachment he needed to be assigned one by Nobility whom he had won respect enough to have.

With the last of his people having their essences restored and enhanced into high-quality bodies, capable of sensations once thought lost to the C'Tan, Cirriakn finally let the nobles be restored. Some aspects of their restoration were to be expected, such as immediately demanding fealty from many of the citizens, attempting to assert authority through the various Nodal Networks. As the networks were fashioned from Kronus' old systems, that might have worked if any of them had been nobles of Kronus, however none of them were. What surprised Cirrikan was the blatant refusal by either the former warriors or even the Immortals to adhere to any demands from the restored nobles. Some of the lychguard, as it turned out were not actually attached to the nobles, and were thus lost with no nobles to serve. The crypteks were no surprise, having nothing to bargain with, the nobles could not entice any of them into their service.

It would seem as though in spite of his objections, Cirrikan had become the De facto leader of his people here. The nobles vented and railed through all networks short of the engineering network, thinking that one beneath them. Yet, when Cirrikan spoke everyone listened. On the rare occasion military action was called for in defense of his facilities outside the system, there was an overwhelming response from the Immortals and several warriors that were on the path to becoming immortals. This was sure to be a problem once he returned to their home universe, something he was very close to attempting. Several other projects were bearing fruit, another of such projects was a new means of Faster-Than-Light travel. Traveling through the Immaterium was out of the question and while Dolmen gates were fast, the combination of their degradation and their guardians made them at best unreliable.

This galaxy had many new methods of interstellar travel, hyperdrives, boom tubes, etc. However, the greatest idea came from Earth's stockpile of fiction, specifically Frank Herbert's _Dune_. In as much as many in their home galaxy would debate it, the necrons never hesitated to demonstrate their mastery over time and space, though it never occurred to them to _fold_ space. They devised a series of ships to test the process, most were destroyed before they finally started having success. This allowed them to rapidly refine the process. The speed at which these advancements occurred would have astounded anyone else, but give a cryptek access to sufficient resources and the sheer force of grand scale production will the do the work for them. Cirrikan had taken the resources of a tomb world and expanded it to a whole new level.

Hidden in the asteroid field were two monumental projects: one was his personal project, the other would be his gift to his King, Szarekh: A world engine. By itself, the project was monumental in scale and scope, not attempted since the War in Heaven, however the Technomancer did not get his title on merit. The project was about 68% complete with most of the internal facilities functional and supporting the construction, it was almost building itself… almost. The one problem there was was the same that plagued most necron technology: insufficient power. Unlike the last world engine, which was powered by the very C'Tan that commissioned it, Cirrikan was opting for a less problematic source of energy though equally as radical idea: a Star but not just one, eight. Six for the World engine and two for his personal project.

Though not just any stars would do but those of a particular age and fusion type, most of which were to be found in the galactic core. With the incredible forces at work in a galactic core, Cirrikan highly doubted any of their capital starships could withstand those forces but his personal project was a different story. The hotter the forge, the purer the material. The stronger the force, the stronger the metal. Close to an unstable red giant, Cirrikan's project was being forged. Drawing upon the services of canoptek leeches with millions of years of experience rebuilding the tesseract labyrinth in new ways, Cirrikan temporarily assigned new leeches to the lead the active forging and reforging of massive mobile station.

When completed it would be the ultimate expression of the Technomancer, the ultimate factory, manufacturing facility, research laboratory, etc. This idea was once again, inspired by Earth's popular culture, drawn from _Star Wars,_ specifically the idea of the _Star Forge_. The cryptek decided to utilize the factory's design and the concept of using stellar matter for both power and sourcing raw materials. It was mostly built in the asteroid belt, it being readied to transition to its new position to be tempered in the fires of a dying star. When it was ready enough, it used the new space-folding system to transition to the second stage of its forging.

Once the station reached a certain level of completion, it was moved to close orbit around the Red Giant, the immense heat, gravometric and electromagnetic forces forcing the hundreds of thousands of networked canoptek leeches, scarab, wraiths and spyders to adapt, alter, and insulate systems as they endeavored to finish the station. Not only was the station forged well but also adapted to internal attack as it would invariably face once it returned to its home universe.

While he had them prisoner, Cirrikan had copied the personalities of the space marines, Orks, Chaos Space Marines, and Eldar. He fashioned bodies for them and had them attack the station with their respective tactics and the networked systems rebuilt the station in adaptation to each. Redundant and decentralized systems were developed. Soon the station was ready for the final stage: the conversion and integration of stars into its power systems.

Using typical necron power systems which usually entailed drawing power from their environment, the station was easily able to call upon the power needed to move itself. The next step required a twin star and careful timing. The stationed positioned itself with both sides of the station's prongs aimed at their respective stars. First one beam emerged from between the prongs striking the first star. It drew both radiation and fissionable material from it back to the station. Power flowed through the station as another beam emerged from the other side of the station, this one more powerful than the first. Rather than absorbing material, this beam grabbed the white dwarf star, injecting specialized materials into the star's mass as it remarkably seemed to shrink.

From his lab aboard the station, Cirrikan watched through the stations powerful sensors as the magnified gravity field of the dwarf star began to condense it. He analysed its mass as the specialized injectors began to force the star to assume a more solid shape, its internal structure beginning to crystalize. Gravity's effect on time began to enhance the field further, accelerating the process as the cryptek calculated it would. Once the star dropped below a predetermined size, the station began to draw it towards itself. The process rapidly completed to the desired point as the crystal star traveled between the prongs, and enclosure on the spherical section of the station opened to receive it. The blue white glow of the former star gently entered its cradle like a gem that is inset into a piece of jewelry. The metal flowed around the gem holding it in place and solidified into a single piece.

New power flowed through the station, Cirrikan could feel many of its other systems awaken. All military designers would think it the peak of idiocy to have a primary power source seemingly so exposed on the outside of the structure, but the necron knew from how it fogred the star, that its structure was so dense that to cover it with armor would be akin to putting a band-aid on a battleship. Now that half of its power was accounted for, it was time to forge the other half and then the power sources for the world engine, to be the traveling Crown World of the Silent King.

The activities of the cryptek did not go unnoticed as the Guardians watched the station work. They had little doubt that the cryptek was aware that he was being watched, after all he had personally come to Oa asking for permission to do exactly what he was doing. The stars had no life in their systems… if they had anything in their systems at all. The Guardians feared that the loss of the stars would throw _something_ off balance but the cryptek had already proven his astounding mastery of Stellar engineering. The Guardians were unsure about these "Necrons," however something had happened on Earth, they were certain, that had resulted in the prophecy of the _Blackest Night_ utterly collapsing on itself. They prided themselves on knowing just about everything about the universe but this machine-like race had defied all conventional logic, their technology operating on a principle they were unaware of. They bore further observation, they sent an order out among the Green Lantern corp to not deliberately antagonize the necrons in any way.

 **Author's note:**

 **\- In part 2 of the _Justice League_ episode _Hearts and Minds_ , John Stewart makes an interesting remark," You sound like Yoda." Of course there are many other Easter eggs such as this throughout the series but this one stood out to me. I gathered that _Star Wars_ and all its related parts are part of their Earth's body of fiction. I will not use all science fiction though as there are some I hope my cryptek will travel to in the future. Obviously, if I am referring to material in-universe as a work of fiction, the necrons will not be going there.**

 **\- To give you a bit of a timescale, Cirrikan and the necrons from Kronus have been there for about 1.5 years. If you are concerned about the speed at which he is building things, understand that my cryptek was quick to begin building up his industrial infrastructure. A good example would be the differing construction paces between the first and second Death Star. The first one took so long because first of all the necessary infrastructure needed to be established, second there were many lessons to be learned in building something on that scale. The second one, though being larger was constructed to the extent that we saw it in a far shorter amount of time due to new manufacturing technologies, the infrastructure was already there, and process refined. If you examine the lore of WH40K, you will see that not one but two World engines were built, a prototype and Borsis itself. Plus, as i have stated before, Cirrikan has been part of some of the biggest projects of his race. What else do you expect of a cryptek of the Ogdobekh Dynasty?**

 **\- Speaking of the Ogdobekh Dynasty, I recently got the latest edition of the Necron codex, which curiously, included a map of the galaxy which included all necron dynasties and their territories. Curiously and unintentional on my part, the dynasty that is the closest to Terra is the Ogdobekh dynasty and in the 41st millennium... it is active. Frustratingly, the map** _did not_ **have locations like Karuva or Kronus.**

 **\- I recently finished the WH40K book called the _Forges of Mars_ , a three-in-one book composed of _Priests of Mars, Lords of Mars,_ and _Gods of Mars._ In the book, there is a clear sign of necron technology in the form of a C'Tan Shard used to power a device capable of Stellar engineering. This is one of many examples of the technological capability of the Necrons, the Celestial Orrery being another.**


	15. Narrowing the scope

**Author's note: In case you are wondering how the "Blackest Night was averted by the Necrons, the being known as Nekron (go figure), leader of the Black Lanterns was imprisoned in a dimension adjacent to hell, i.e. Tartarus, which as you know the Necrons drained and collapsed. Nekron was sustained by souls taken from Tartarus. When he reached into Tarus to acquire a soul to devour, he was instead himself devoured by the machinery that was draining the dimension. Without him, no Blackest Night.**

Dr. Pamela Isely was in heaven or at last what approximated as heaven to her, namely the fact that she had been taken by a power that actually listened to her advice about the environment was was taking measures with their incredible technological prowess. Not only that they were very interested in financing her research and gave her a project to attempt to bring life in one of the most desolate parts parts of the Middle East. The heat alone was a challenge, but she relished the challenge.

Assigned to her was a cryptek named Beteryn, his main field of study having been the necron equivalent of Alchemy. When the other cryptek Cirrikan, the apparent necron in charge, had introduced them, he made their position clear: while he would assist her with necron technology as needed, he was also keeping an eye on her. While this revelation was at best a nuisance, She did appreciate the straightforwardness of the necrons.

Beteryn proved to be quite reliable when it came to acquiring what she requested and it seemed there was no limit to the resources of the necrons. Even further his tiny mechanical beehives of the necron scarabs were able to accurately and constantly see to the needs of the plants in a way even she had trouble keeping up with. They even set up a scarab with a built in holoprojector that functioned like a TV, enabling her to keep up with worlds events or just simply relax to a movie when she needed a break.

On this particular day, she was watching the news focusing on a battle in Metropolis between a creature known as Doomsday and superman who was curiously wearing a strange suit with a black and white color scheme. She watched as the camera focused on the two and it seemed the stopped to talk briefly before superman use his eye beams to fire very specifically at the creatures head. After that, the creature became unresponsive. Pamela's eyebrows went up when the ensuing reporters asked Superman did before the reported Lois Lane came to the conclusion that Superman had lobotomised Doomsday.

"Beteryn, look." Pamely called to the cryptek.

The tall form of the machine took grreat slow strides as it brought its cyclopean gaze upon the news.

"It looks like Superman has finally had enough. Glad I signed up with you guys." Said Pamela.

The cryptek was silent for a moment before speaking," Idea."

When the cryptek said it had an idea, exciting research usually followed," I'm listening."

"Superman draws his power from this systems star type, correct?" Asked Beteryn.

"Yes? What about it?" She said before thinking about one of the possible implications of his question and in reflection of the fact they intended to seed other planets with life.

"You want to develop a culture that can adapt plants to different sun types and exposure and different kinds of radiation?" It was an interesting implication.

The cryptek bowed his head, acknowledging her conclusion.

"Interesting. We will start with some variations on cactus and see where we go from there."

The two went right back to work.

When he was not serving as a Nemesor-in-training under the tutelage and experience of the Immortals to Cirrikan, Markus Til lived in a well-furnished apartment building not far from Szarekh Industries headquarters. He had just finished showering after a particularly rigorous sparring session with lychguards followed by two hours in his private gym. Most of the other gyms in the city did not have the weights he needed nor the durability to withstand his training. in terms of experience he could not compare to any necron, however they pushed him past his limitations time and again both mentally and physically. Interestingly, this Earth had a very useful and extensive history in the art of warfare, strategies both traditional and bizarre were instructed to him in addition to mathematics, languages from all over his home galaxy.

Attending him was his personal canoptek wraith which had its artificial intelligence adapted and allowed to gain sentience. Like most of the necron self-aware constructs, it was loyal to a fault and determined in its service. Though its knowledge could not even remotely compare to that of a cryptek, the wraith understood Markus' unique and experimental anatomy. Cirrikan had taken a personal hand in Markus development using the knowledge he gleaned from the Blood Ravens' Apothecary concerning the gene seed of the Space marines and used it to tinker on Markus. The advantage of having the wraith doing the bulk of the surgical work was also the most disconcerting. As the typical canoptek wraith used its phase abilities to either defend its assigned tomb complex or aid in its constant maintenance, his wraith did the same to phase into his body to perform minor surgeries without the need of rendering him unconscious.

Markus used his integrated implants to have the television activate as the news quickly covered a discussion on Superman's change in costume… and ethics. While the notion was not surprising considering Markus' point of origin, it certainly seemed bizarre.

"That is not this Earth's Superman." Said very familiar mechanized voice in his native tongue. Markus jumped off the couch to see Cirrikan standing in dining area.

"Sir?" Asked Markus a little confused and in realization a little embarrassment when he realized he was not wearing much else aside from his boxer briefs.

"It is logical to monitor potential threats, yes?" Asked Cirrikan as he walked around the furniture and took a seat on the sofa, the furniture groaning in protest.

"Yes sir." Said Markus as he sat down next to his handler.

"Every member of the Justice league and their associates has a tracker in them, as do you in case you were wondering." Said Cirrikan.

The cryptek gestured at the screen which paused on the superman that apparently was not superman.

"So what is he? A shapeshifter like J'onn J'onzz?" Asked Markus.

"No he is 100% kryptonian and a genetic match to superman as I have had microscarabs scan him, however I detected variations in his and several of the other's bioelectric energy fields. It is indicative of cross-universal travel much like what brought us here." Said the cryptek.

"So if that league is from another universe… where is ours?" Asked Markus, trying to follow Cirrikan's train of thought.

"Now we have established context for my purpose here. I am sending you to the universe this League is supposedly from. From there you are to ascertain the status of the league and take action as needed." Said the cryptek.

"What would qualify as action?"

"If they were captured, a rescue. If they are guests, make sure they are made aware of the actions that have been taken in their absence. From there, use your judgement." Said the necron.

"Excuse me, sir, but may I ask some questions?" Markus had a few things to get off his chest.

Cirrikan merely nodded his unblinking cyclopean gaze turning to give the young man his full attention.. or as close as he came to it.

"Why do you insist on preserving the league?"

"They act as both target and shield against other galactic forces in this galaxy. For our continued learning all we need to do is repair and observe. It is practical."

"Why have you been trusting me with such authority. I am not a necron, I have no business leading Immortals and constructs into battle." Said Markus.

"Had we been back in our home universe, you would be right, however while we are here, we need someone with a degree of deference. Someone to say how much force is needed, a scalpel instead of a sword." Said Cirrikan.

"What about you? Are you not the leader? Why not make those decisions yourself?" Asked Markus.

"I am a cryptek, I have clearly defined role in my society and no rank to command military units without the authorization of a noble. While our present situation is unique, it is not nor do I intend it to be permanent. I need you to represent both humanity and the necrontyr on the battlefield." Said the cryptek.

"Alright. For this mission, who and what can I take with me?" Asked Markus.

Later, Markus and Cirrkan were aboard the mighty Necron station, facing the expanse of space through an open airlock. Soon a new star appeared, the star became a golden streak which zig-zagged before approaching the station. The streak suddenly halted to reveal the form of Amazo, a powerful android that had threatened the league some months ago before the combined efforts of J'onn J'onzz had convinced the android to explore. The android had visited the necrons on several occasions, even thought his technology was advanced compared to that of Earth, it paled in comparison to necron technology.

Even as the android made contact with the deck, his features became slightly more skeletal in imitation of the necrons.

"This is the first time you have called for me. My evolution has progressed significantly, yet nothing has yet to give me the means to understanding your technology." Said Amazo.

"It is a result of our universe, our history, culture, anger, and desperation. It is a science beyond conventional understanding. I would impart a small understanding in exchange for your assistance." Said Cirrikan.

"Your constructive endeavors belies your capabilities. With the power of your technology, why do you need my assistance?" Asked Amazo.

"Did you analyze the data packet I had sent you?" Asked Cirrikan.

"I did. I reiterate my question." Said the android.

"This mission requires variables the parallel League cannot anticipate and if conflict occurs, they will struggle. If the Justice league is there operating of their own free will then there is no need for conflict. Either way that is our deal." Said the cryptek.

The golden-bodied android thought for a moment." Agreed."

The weeks that had followed his internment into a new pattern of dreadnought, custom-designed to the multiple roles of a techmarine, Vernus had took to the growing forges of the _Arizona_ bringing his considerable skill and knowledge to bear upon the Ark Mechanicus as it changed. Over the weeks that had followed, the Machine spirit of the ship had grown restless, as it hungered for raw materials supplied by the necron fed almost directly into its numerous forges, foundries, workshops, and machine shops. As there was insufficient manpower among the tech-priests and not too many more servitors, the techmarine opted to incorporate another old Earth technology into the ship's infrastructure: 3D printing.

Manipulator arm assemblies mounted on rails ran throughout the growing ship carried parts and bolted or welded them as necessary. In some cases, components needed to be created with a series of insectoid constructs working in tandem using metal filaments to "print" larger artifices. One of such constructs was a massive machine that was made in the engine room multiple layers of gears being built in a spherical array that grew as the ship did. The mechanical sphere supplied power to the Ark, replacing what would have ordinarily been a monstrous plasma reactor. The tech priests had no idea what was contained in the core of this power source, but Vernus suspected it was something of necron cryptek's creation. Though amidst the knowledge imparted to him by the xenos engineer, none of it gave him any semblance of a clue as to what could be at the machine's core.

The ship eventually replaced its tracks with large-scale anti-grav plates designed to support the ships bulk as it grew. While the machine spirit was growing with the ship, it seemed to grow more complex yet not sentient. Vernus recognized the pattern, while incomprehensibly sophisticated, it was hard not to recognize the developing pattern according to Cirrikan's Map of sentience which was imparted to him. If he was interpreting the developing patterns of the machine spirit correctly, the end result would be highly complex but never attaining sentience much like the Necron spyders. It made the techmarine dreadnought wonder what it would look like once the Ark Mechanicus reached its full size of 120 Km in length.

In addition to all the other works in progress, Vernus made additional discoveries of his new body, little doubt courtesy of the cryptek. The original Crimson Typhoon had thrusters on its back which aided in jumping, however in the case of his dreadnought body the thrusts could support full flight. Unlike the Promethium rockets used in Astartes jump packs, his were a fully realized application of a multi-chamber ion engine using high energy, super electromagnets drawing straight from his reactor. Combined with several strategically placed compact anti-gravity plates, the exceptionally high temperature tolerance of his new plating and the insulation of his systems, he no longer needed a drop pod to deploy from a starship.

All of that paled in comparison to his body's dexterity and speed, the more he practiced in both combat movements and his applications, the more precise his movements became. His optics not only possessed the capacity to zoom in on distant targets but also zoom in to view nanostructures. How every forging technique contributed to the structure. Also his new body's tolerance was great enough and the new forge powerful enough to run at temperatures few could withstand for any extended periods of time, even his fellow battle brothers in full armor. That in combination with his regular supply of Nth metal and depleted Promethium, an alloy while bearing the name of the Imperiums standardized fuel, was a metal with properties comparative to that of Adamantium.

Over his vox channels, e was contacted by the Mechanicus, informing him that the cryptek was there to see him. KNowing the cryptek could have either teleported, phased, or created an Eternity Gate into the ship went only to show that the necron had a modicum of respect. Curious as to the reason for Cirrikan's visit, Vernus gave permission. The cryptek soon entered the forge, the extreme heat seeming to make his necrodermis body glow briefly before turning back to its gunmetal grey color with the eldritch green energy glowing from him.

"I have come to fulfil my promise to return you, the tech priests, and any who wish to go with you to return to our universe." Said the Cryptek.

"And to where will you return us to?" Asked Vernus.

"If i am not mistaken, close to the orbit of Mars." said Cirrikan.

"Just like that? No deals? No provisions?" Asked the tech marine.

"Of course there is. The knowledge and memories the tech priests have gained about my people since Kronus' destruction must be sealed away until such a time as it is needed. It will of course be replaced with other memories that account for both your present form and their knowledge." Said the necron.

"And my memories?" Asked the techmarine dreadnought.

"You will keep them. You have earned that much." Said the cryptek.

The deck shook as the engines rumbled.

"Look like we are finally ready to head for your jump point. To that end i will leave you with two additional gifts." Said the cryptek.

"I want nothing from you." Said Vernus.

"As expected of any Space marine. Know that you will be returning to Mars and you will have STCs and, not of my doing, the ear of the _Arizona_. That will give you leverage in the politics of Mars. i would expect that you would use this to leverage an expedition to the chambers sealed beneath Mars surface, being both a techmarine and a dreadnought will prove advantageous unless you encounter threats to your very systems." Said Cirrikan.

"Scrapcode." Said Vernus.

"Among other things. So my first gift will be to your Machine spirit, encrypting it. Only you can permit things through." Said Cirrikan.

"Oh? And what is to stop a cryptek such as yourself from simply decrypting my machine spirit?" Asked Vernus.

"The Mechanicus has a term for this: Machine-touched. It is a trait that is exceedingly rare, one in a hundred trillion. Most are taken by the Mechanicus, however you were taken first by the Astartes. Your natural affinity for technology is a product of what you call the Dark Age of Technology." Said Cirrikan.

"How are you privy to such information?" Asked Vernus.

"It is buried within the genetic code. During the Dark Age of technology, some of humanity delved into the powers of the materium, believing that the Warp could be mankind's doom. They sought to weave into your genetic structure a high compatibility of multiple machine interfaces. With proper refinement, it will not be wholly different from the energy tools our canoptek constructs use. Attaching it to your firewalls grants you a near impenetrable defense." Said Cirrikan.

"Very well. What is your next gift?" Asked Venus, somewhat intrigued now.

"I am sure by no you are aware of the Pariah gene? The necron answer to the forces of the Warp?" The cryptek asked.

"Does that not render me souless like you?" Asked Vernus.

"It completely severs you from the Immaterium, while perceived as being soulless, that is a falsity. The Immaterium was breached by the Old Ones and became a gaping wound courtesy of the Eldar. It was a breach against the natural order, the Pariah gene is our attempt to restore that order. Our kind saw potential in your species at some time, a means by which to bring order back to the galaxy."

"I am not asking you break your vows to the Emperor, your battle brothers, nor even to the Adeptus Mechanicus. I am asking you to embrace your potential for their sake. Imagine these two qualities operating in conjunction will benefit you, your battle brothers, and your brethren in the Adeptus Mechanicus." Said the cryptek.

"No." Said the techmarine dreadnought," As far as my genetics are concerned, i will go forth with what the Omnissiah has chosen to give me."

"As you wish, then may I grant you another in its place?" asked Cirrikan.

The dreadnought merely inclined his head for the cryptek to continue.

"It was an artifact conceived to directly counter the forces of the Immaterium. I have since refined it with variable force settings with an integrated power draw. The Shadow Ankh now has abilities that range from preventing your mind from being probed to creating a 20 meter diameter dome where the Immaterium has no power. On its medium setting, its effects are as one to your frame. And of course for the sake of deference to you it will once again be forged using technology that I will adapt for you rather than using necrodermis." Said the cryptek.

"Very well. Do what you need to." Said Vernus.

Cirrikan extended his arms to each end of the forge, molten metal were guided from their white hot pools to cascade between the cyptek's hands. The dreadnought could almost see the energy tools used by the necrons weaving the metal. He was still uncertain as to how but his time with the necron taught him that they worked on a scale imperceptible to humanity and the fact that this particular cryptek was willing to gift him with some of his work… Vernus did not know what to think. He watched as Cirrikan routed the streams of weaving metal moved into his body. In the back of his mind Vernus could feel a new connection and new ability at his disposal.

"It is done." Said Cirrikan, lowering his arms. He tilted his head to the side before commenting,"... And not a moment too soon. We have arrived at our specified coordinates. Safe journey and well met, space marine."

The cryptek vanished in a haze of green.

The dreadnought returned to his work in his Forge.

Cirrikan reappeared in one of the many access terminal points in his station, tendrils extended from one of the terminals and connected to the cryptek. The vast systems of the Nomad Foundry, as he had come to think of it, answered his call. Through its eyes he saw the small form of the _Arizona_ as it hovered before the station. For the next stage, he drew upon the deep wells of power embedded into the station. Space itself seemed to answer his very thoughts as he parted it slightly and used his greater understanding of gravity to plunge through the skeins of time. With a small urge, he sent the Ark Mechanicus through. Just as he was about to let space resume its natural form, he spotted something within the very Skeins of this universe's timeline: His staff.

 _How did that get there?_ He thought as he had the station attempt to reach it.

But as suddenly as he had spotted it, space itself seemed to slam shut.

Before the cryptek could have the station attempt to pry space apart once more to find it, he felt an alert going out through the Nodal military network.

The parallel Justice League was attacking them.

 **A/N: i am thinking about doing a separate fanfiction featuring the unique dreadnought. What do you guys think?**


	16. An Inviolable System

Panic: sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior. This is not a word one could apply to Necrons for a variety of reasons; One, while Cirrikan did restore their ability to feel emotions, he made sure there would always be a measure of control they would have over them. Second, because they are a biomechanical race there is no such thing as "unthinking behavior." Panic was what the parallel Justice League was trying to cause. The only panic it was causing was in both the US government and the UN, afraid that the Necrons would retaliate. Without being summoned, Cirrikan himself showed up at the UN assembly.

Many Televisions and internet programs showed the cryptek as he spoke," _People of the Earth, the Necron Empire has come under attack from individuals whom seem to be members of the Justice League. From our scans, we have detected that these individuals are from a parallel universe, likely replacing our Justice League with theirs. In spite of your fears, the Necron Empire views these attacks as little more than a nuisance an will not be met with retaliation unless they decide to escalate. Otherwise, we will simply carry on. That is all."_ With the conclusion of his announcement, the leader of the necrons vanished in a haze of green.

Watching the broadcast from the Watchtower in orbit was the Parallel Justice League.

"Nuisance? Ha! Tell that to the 40 buildings we destroyed this morning." Said the Parallel Hawkgirl.

"I would not speak so soon, Shayera, look." Said Parallel John Stewart as he pointed to the screen.

The five of them there, Superman, J'onn J'onzz, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and John Stewart, looked at the screens of the buildings they had destroyed earlier were being rapidly rebuilt. It was not long before the buildings and structures were once again intact.

John Stewart rubbed his eyes, while J'onn J'onzz spoke to Superman," Any luck with their moon city?"

"No, when I picked the whole thing up and threw it at the sun, it teleported right back to the moon." Reported a very frustrated Superman," I tried smashing their structures, melting it with my heat vision, they just rebuilt, reformed, and went about their day as if my attacks were meaningless."

"I am beginning to think that were are way over our heads," Said John Stewart," They are too deeply entrenched and use technology we only know is capable of extensive self-repair."

"J'onn, did the Batman of this world have anything on these necrons… anything?" Asked Wonder Woman.

The parallel martian scanned through the Watchtower's files, until he found what he was looking for. The files were extensive.

"There are detailed reports on them responding with some kind of hierarchy but there are a lot of notes here saying how that has seemed to change, rigid hierarchy becoming something more amorphous." Reported the martian.

"If they are a machine race and they do not talk a lot maybe they talk to each other differently, like a communication network?" Speculated Hawkgirl.

"And if we can figure out this network, we can jam it." Said Wonder Woman.

"That may prove difficult." Said J'onn J'onzz," Their batman scanned every known frequency and asked both their version of me and superman if our technologies could find anything."

"And?" Asked Green Lantern.

"Nothing." Said the martian," Their network does not use any known frequencies nor does their technology operate on any known principle of physics."

"So that's out. Back to their leadership. It says here that they consider someone called "The Silent King" as their absolute leader. But there has been no sighting of him." said J'onn J'onzz.

"All this could be them getting ready for him, a precursory force." said Hawkgirl.

"If that is the case, then that is all the more reason to uproot these invaders." Said John Stewart.

"What about going after this "Cirrikan?" He appears to be the one in charge." said Wonder Woman.

"According to Batman's Psychological analysis, while he does appear to be the one in charge, he is not a military strategist and is never seen on the front lines with Necron forces. Of course this is merely speculative as Necrons only seem to interact with people as necessary and only those who are tight-lipped on the subject." Said the Martian.

"So he is a coward." Said Wonder Woman.

"It is hard to say. He has been noted to actually manifest here in the tower without either warning or concern." Said the Martian.

"So he does not see our counterparts as a threat." Said Superman.

"The necrons have great favor with many countries throughout the world. They have more legal authority to operate than the League does." Said the Martian.

"Infiltrators?" Asked John Stewart.

"No. Simple logic and leverage. Every country that approves of the necrons is getting small boosts in various fields from sanitation to economic. Even Batman was having difficulty tracking the extent of their involvement." Said J'onn J'onzz.

"So trying to uproot them would only turn the world hostile." Said John Stewart.

"I need to think about this. I am going on patrol." Said Superman.

"I believe I will do the same." Said Wonder Woman.

"I will continue researching," Said the Martian as he turned back to the Watchtower computer.

After everyone had left, the Martian relaxed in his chair, letting his mind go beyond the expanse of the tower. His mind went to the moon and could feel what seemed like the minds of the Necrons but it was unclear… and image obscured by static. His mind wandered Mars but lingered only long enough to be filled with the dull ache of loneliness at the loss of his people and his family. His mind moved to the asteroid belt feeling more necrons, their numbers seeming beyond count.

Suddenly he heard a voice,+ … help us…+

Shifting his focus, the Martian homed in on the asteroid,+ Who are you?+

+My brothers and I are prisoners of the Necron, subjects to his experiments.+ The voice replied,+ Free us and we will help you against the Necrons.+

+I am listening.+ Said the Martian

(Justice Lords Parallel Earth)

Markus Til walked the well-organized streets as he listened through his implants to the information being gleaned from his other two teammates: Amazo and a cryptek named Xectan.

I have made contact with the resistance. Not surprising, they are very reluctant but also very desperate. They will take some convincing but I have a volunteer. Said the Xectan.

Do what you believe is necessary Said Markus, Their Batman is relentless. Any advantage we can give them will be a boon.

I have located the original league, Said Amazo, having accessed their local networks, They appear to be involuntarily incarcerated. Shall I free them?

Not at this time, if we are to free them, Batman will likely have numerous plans in place to account for said escape. To that end, I am going to contact Cirrikan and ask for more assets. We will build a credible threat to the Justice Lords.

(Justice League Sol System)

Cirrikan received Markus' request and agreed with his personal Nemesor's strategy. He fabricated several new canoptek wraiths equipped with medical and genetic knowledge and placed a unique spyder that had modified its frame to duplicate the appearance and function of a fictional entity from the _Starcraft_ video games series, taking up the name Abathur. Once had all the relevant materials readied, he sent them to the Justice Lord's universe.

Once all that was said and done, Cirrikan turned his attention back to his latest project: mass production of the necron equivalent of a capacitor, similar to the canisters he had forged before his fateful arrival on Kronus. The main difference was that volume of power it was designed to deliver. Simply put, Cirrikan knew that Tombs Worlds took a while to fully awaken due to power constraints and the idea of the Infusion Capacitors was to give them a rapid boost without overwhelming the power grid.

His station had placed itself over another star and had begun to draw stellar matter for both power for the canisters and raw materials for various other projects happening aboard the station. Another project drew upon the station's ability to synthesize complex materials. While Necron technology long had the ability to do so, it was, as usual, a question of power. The materials he had selected to be synthesized were Nth metal, both volatile and depleted Promethium, and an exotic material from his home universe: Blackstone. It was a material highly coveted by the Necrons for its ability to be tuned to reject the Warp, as the obelisks on Cadia were a testament to. On the other hand, the material could likewise be used to channel Warp energy as the Blackstone Fortresses built by the Old Ones could similarly testify to.

Cirrikan intended to integrate the materials into the structure of the station before distributing it to his fellow necrons. It was more so his station could be on equal if not greater terms with the Blackstone Fortresses, should he encounter them when he returned to his home universe, a day that was fast approaching. Also, he was researching ways to integrate the materials into existing necrodermis architecture with great success.

Cirrikan sensed and individual enter his laboratory, one that he had the station's Nodal Engineering Network track since he boarded the station. The individual was a former Necron Overlord named Mnemthot. He was chosen by the other nobles to represent them. The situation between the classes was that the nobles no longer had authority over anything. Their right to rule had been superseded by a body of sentient thought. With revival of their living essences, the warriors and even Immortals were talking, developing their minds and using the Nodal networks to communicate. It was a complete revolution that had been completed before the Nobles were restored.

" _Cirrikan, the Technomancer, the Artificer, the Quiet One…"_ Started Mnemthot," _... one of the Technomandrites."_

Cirrikan said nothing.

" _Technomandrites, the group of the most inventive of all the crypteks, so powerful that even the Silent King himself plotted their downfall. How does that betrayal feel, Technomancer? Does that place a obstacle in your grand plans? Unless you have been deceiving us all into believing this is all for the Silent King and just a means for your vengeance?"_ The Overlord spoke with authority, he was also speaking with an audience: All necrons in this realm. Cirrikan would need to choose his words carefully.

" _Humility, Overlord."_ Said Cirrikan.

" _What?"_ Mnemthot asked confused.

" _Humility, that was the lesson I learned from my days as one of the Technomandrites. We, a gathering of the greatest minds of our race, of the cryptek conclaves, driven by the intoxicating desire to invent, to create, to look into the future and create solutions to problems that had not yet come to pass. Our command of the technology of our race made us unmatched. In our arrogance, we failed in the most spectacular way, completely forgetting our people. It was looking into the blank faces of warriors that were once our people that made me remember our people's plight._

 _In utter shame, I parted ways with the Technomandrites and forged a research outpost to begin my work anew. The Silent King did what was right, looking after our people. He removed the Technomandrites as a threat and was justified in every way for doing so. Since then I have been working for the good of our people, as should you. The humans have a quote by one Ernest Hemingway," There is nothing Noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." Wise for a young race, no? Our King saw his mistake and has sought to make amends for it, he seeks to be superior to his former self as do I. That is why I call him my King. My only wish is that he will forgive me."_ Cirrikan concluded his speech.

He sensed the noble has been floored by his blatant sincerity and the other necrons expressed silent approval, further cementing Cirrikan as their temporary chosen leader and their renewed desire to return to the service of the Silent King.

Cirrikan changed into his favored Victorian attire," _Now, if you will excuse me, I have an interview to attend."_

With that the Cryptek activated the teleporter network and vanished.

(Justice League Earth, Metropolis)

The Justice Lord Superman was patrolling the city that looked like his used to, so full of crime and chaos. Yet there was a light in the world of darkness: his love, Lois Lane. The Superman of this world still went by his Clark kent secret identity and Superman felt a wave of nostalgia as he donned the disguise for the first time in years.

"Hey Kent haven't seen you for a while." Said the photographer, Jimmy.

"Haven't been well, but feeling a lot better. Where is Lois?" Asked Clark Kent.

"Said she had an interview at Margio's, you know, that high-end restaurant on top of Penco tower? But you know the boss wanted to…" Jimmy stopped when he realized that Clark was gone," I hate it when he does that."

(Penco tower restaurant)

Cirrikan appeared in the elevator and emerged to the top floor restaurant. The maitre d took notice.

"Can I help you, sir?" Asked the gentleman.

"Cirrikan, party of two, privacy booth." Announced Cirrikan.

"Ah yes. Your companion has already sat down to eat, as per prestated instruction." Announced the maitre d.

"Very good. Lead the way." Said Cirrikan.

The man personally led the necron into the restaurant, drawing many stares from the patrons. In a more secluded area of the restaurant, waited one Lois Lane accompanied by her camera drone.

"Miss Lane, a pleasure." Said Cirrikan, his top hat and cape coat vanished with a wave of his hand.

Lois smiled but her eyes were stern and analytical," What should I call you? Mister… Lord… Doctor…. ?"

"Just Cirrikan, if you please, Miss Lane. Lord is a distinction for nobility, while Mister and Doctor are human monikers that cannot be applied to me." Said Cirrikan as he sat down.

"I see. Do you even need to eat? Your instructions did not seem to include yourself short of this interview." Said Lois.

"That was intentional as my kind gave up physical needs such as oral consumption long ago. But being the apt reporter that you are, I am sure you are already well-versed in the public knowledge of my peoples history. If I was to speculate, your questions are more of a personal nature." Said the cryptek as he put his elbows on the table.  
Lois looked at him surprised.  
A waiter came and Cirrikan used one of his secondary arms to hand the waiter a credit card.

Finally, Lois found her voice again," If you knew that, why did you come at all?"

"One does not need to be a great detective to see how the Man of Steel feels about you. You are his anchor to this world and his ability to defend this world is of interest to the Necron Empire." Said the cryptek.

" So you are just here to use us? Our resources?" Asked Lois as she frowned.

Cirrikan waved away her accusation," Nothing so simple, my people are learning what it is to live again and need to see what that is like in the various forms your planet's culture takes. Think of this as us taking a vacation from our home universe, one embroiled in constant, unceasing war."

"In your UN press conference, you mentioned the costume change in Superman was more than just a change of style but rather a different person from a parallel universe?" Asked Lois.

"Surely you noticed." Said the cryptek.

"He seemed more… stern… not quite the gentle kind man I know" Said Lois thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Said Cirrikan as he stood up. He signed the receipt brought by the waiter," Now if you will excuse me… my trap has been sprung. Have a pleasant evening, Miss Lane."  
Cirrikan's coat and hat reappeared on his body. He tipped his hat before tapping his cane, disappearing in a green mist.

(Death Valley, California)

The cryptek appeared along with Justice Lord Superman, looking very surprised.

"You think you are the only one who can see through walls?" Asked Cirrikan.

Superman frowned," What were you doing with Lois?"

"What do you want with her? Did you lose your own Lois? Or perhaps in your own attempts to permanently remove problems, your own relationship with her is estranged." Said Cirrikan.

Anger began to boil in Superman," I would be careful about what I say, if I were you."

"Oh, I am. Why do you think I brought you to one of the most desolate places in the United States? Certainly not to talk about your feelings, pathetic as they are." Said the cryptek.

He could see Superman was reaching the boiling point.

"How pitiful do you need to be to think that she would love you again? I cannot imagine that level of rejection…"

It happened faster than the eye could follow, superman attempted to punch the cryptek only for him to suddenly be on his back in the ground. He felt something in his chest. He looked and realized that the cryptek had phased his hand into the Man of Steel and was withdrawing it.

"Such fascinating anatomy, you kryptonians have, your cellular structure is very capable of high density energy storage." Said Cirrikan as he walked around Superman.

The Justice Lord tried to move but he panicked as he realized that his body will no longer answer is commands. It became even more alarming as his body began moving independently of him. He rose and walked in a direction following the cryptek.

"The reason everyone struggles with our technology is that they do not see the universe the way we the necrontyr do. When we were alive, our sun had mutated us with its radiation, making our lives rather short but from these mutations cames gifts, senses beyond anything I could express in words. Do excuse me, I appear to be monologuing. How rude of me. Here, you can speak"

The cryptek made a gesture and suddenly Superman had control of his mouth and voice again but just those.

"What do you want with me?" Asked Superman.

"Well, it certainly is not your intelligence, had you been listening you would have heard clues…" The cryptek faced him and whispered into his ear,"... though I am certain that your friends have speculated as much and are on their way."

Cirrikan backed away and with one hand, gestured to the ground and the ground cracked as a black monolith emerged from the ground.

"You knew?" Asked a shocked Superman.

"I introduce myself as the Technomancer, do you think that is simply isolated to that of my people? I knew your suit had a transmitter in it since you first stepped foot on this world." Said Cirrikan.

Superman suddenly felt his arms extend to the sides. He felt the pain of being stabbed by small poles but unable to move his head to see exactly what it was.

He gritted his teeth as he spoke," How are you controlling me?"

"You think I will tell you like some type of villain? That logic has always confounded me. What is the point in telling your enemy your plans if you are going to kill them? That being said, I fully expect you to live through this." Said Cirrikan.

Superman's eyes widened but not under his own power, he was looking straight ahead at a gate that seemed to have emerged from the ground. He felt slight twitches if his eyes. Suddenly his heat vision was projected unbidden from his eyes to the portal which began to change from its greenish hue to a more orange one. The sensation was always a rush of power but something about the beams began to change. He felt power surge through his body from the stabbing points. It seemed invigorating at first but as the intensity increased it began to become painful.

He heard the sounds of his fellow Justice Lords engaging the cryptek but it did not sound good. Not but five minutes later, the Green lantern entered his field of vision, apparently also being forced to become subservient to whatever purpose the cryptek had in mind.

"Did you kill them?" Superman asked, though surprised he was still allowed to speak.

"Do you not find it fascinating that in the english language," you" can be both singular and plural. When I said I expected you to survive this, I meant all of you." Said Cirrikan who was outside his vision.

Superman tried to summon the air into his superhuman lungs to potentially ruin the cryptek's plans, only to find that he was unable to do so. The cryptek had outmaneuvered him yet again. He saw Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl approach the portal.

Superman heard the cryptek speak to John Stewart," If you want them back, I would suggest you keep a very tight good tether on them."

The Green lantern projected a green tether to the two women. They both flew into the portal. Superman could feel his eyes watering as the pain only grew, not just in his eyes but also in his body. His nerves felt like they were on fire but the pain only grew. He gritted his teeth to bear the pain but it felt like his body was flooded with fire. He did not know how long he was holding the portal open, but he began to notice cracks in his vision. His eyeballs were actually cracking! The cracks began to spread and spread, it was too much! He screamed.

The portal undulated before spewing out Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. Both women were severely burned, Hawkgirl missing her feathers. They had brought with them a large staff with three prong on each end. His eyes stopped and he was able to finally blink. He felt the poles retract from his body and release him to fall to the ground. He tried to open his eyes again but his vision was still cracked. He was barely able to make out the cryptek holding the staff they retrieved.

"You did well, as I expected of all of you. Now I would urge you all to vacate this universe before I find another use for all of you." The cryptek walked and disappeared through the portal.

( Cirrikan's station, named, _Pthaionion,_ the _Foundry of Eternity_ )

Cirrikan emerged from the portal into his laboratory which was a significant improvement upon his asteroid laboratory, now with his staff restored to him, he could finally unlock the full capabilities of the battle factory.

Cirrikan let the staff leave his hand and float vertically in the center of his lab, floating above a pedestal. Hexagonal consoles rose from the floor, which the cryptek began to manipulate with his lower arms. His upper arms extended, eldritch energy flowed into the machinery throughout the room. The staff slowly came apart as Cirrikan unlocked the trillions of quantum-scale locks revealing technology that was highly complex even by cryptek standards. As he undid the final locks, he opened the heart of the staff and the room was bathed in a pale blue light.

Cirrikan accessed _Pthaionion_ 's solar fusion capacitors and channeled the collected solar mass into the heart of his staff. The room was filled with light that would blind organics as the mass from several stars was directed to the core of the staff. Cirrikan in the meantime prepared to upgrade his staff with the two sphere, enhanced way beyond their original designs as Resurrection Spheres due to his constant tinkering. The two sets of triple blades on either end of the staff opened as the two sphere's maneuvered between them. They soon closed as well as the core as soon as it finished eating. Cirrikan brought three groups of three pillars each composed of differing materials: depleted Promethium, Nth metal, and Blackstone.

With his hands extended all three groups seemed to crumble to sand as they formed a small storm around the staff but in truth being weaved on the quantum level into the staff. His lower hands briefly left the consoles to clap together then part to reveal his warscythe cane. That as well crumbled to dust as it's numerous forms became as one with the Staff of Creation. The staff was soon whole again and returned to his hand.

There was much work to be done, especially in wake of his asteroid laboratory breach. A typical cryptek maintained but as a Technomandrite, a title both great and terrible, he was way ahead of what was coming.

(Death Valley, California)

Superman roused to consciousness but found that his eyes were still very much cracked and were painful to look through. It was one thing to be weakened by kryptonite but whatever the necron had done to him, it had left him feeling incredibly drained. He knew he would probably feel better when the sun rose until then…

He heard footfalls. Four sets. Heavy but there was no accompanying sound of machinery so not necron. He heard voices, speaking a language he did not understand. He heard them pick up his companions one by one before one picked him up. From what he could tell, the individuals were at the very least humanoid, though their voices sounded unnatural. They were definitely strong, considering the ease one of them lifted him, though what was happening to them, he did not know. His instincts screamed at him that something was very, very wrong with these individuals, more than anything he had ever encountered before.


	17. Of Ice and Necrodermis

(Justice Lord Earth, Universe-003)

 _What was going on?_ Batman thought as while his fellow Justice Lords were attempting to bring the parallel Earth, Chaos was beginning to erupt throughout the planet. What made it even more unusual was often what was stolen. Waste plants, garbage dump, recycling plants, things that were lightly defended. Why? Why steal garbage, sludge, or tin cans? Who could make use…

Batman pulled up a copy of the database from parallel Earth and quickly scanned the documents until he found video footage of insectoid constructs breaking down waste. He could only come to one logical conclusion: somehow, the necrons were here and supporting the resistance! Batman suspected it was designed as a distraction so the Justice League could be rescued.

Batman was about to bring up the camera's for the cells when the thought occurred to him. _With their superior command of technology, there is a possibility they have infiltrated the network._ Never short of a redundant plan, Batman decided to enact Bronze Age protocol, defer to old more reliable means of communication and storage, he also sent a message to line of a courier system. His company owned several manufacturers of older technologies just for this contingency.

He was not about to be caught with his pants downs.

(Justice League Universe, Necron Factory station _Xertac'stol,_ Universe-002)

The time had finally come for Cirrikan to reassert his presence back in his home universe. For that he needed a Tomb World but not just any Tomb World, one that had been broken. From its ashes, he would reforge it, stronger than before. The Adeptus Mechanicus had a concept that he was intrigued by: that of a forge world. It was not as if the concept of a planet-spanning factory was foreign to the necrons, rather many Tombs worlds were factory complexes churning out war materials for the War in Heaven. However, with the order of the Great Sleep most of them were converted into vast stasis chambers.

As Cirrikan walked toward the station's primary gate chamber, his Victorian style clothes reshaped about his body, forming his robes, gleaning with gold in the basic shape of ancient circuits and the glowing sigils, marking his identity to all who knew how to read them. When the doors to the chamber opened, Cirrkan was surprised. There in the chamber was filled with necrons mostly those of the former warriors and immortals. In addition to them were former destroyers and flayed ones. All of them were standing in formation. This was unusual.

The Immortals, the former warriors, the new and restored crypteks, those cured of the flayer virus and the Destroyer cancer, all stood in ceremonial formation. There was no cheering like humans would do, rather it was a disciplined silence where one was not needed. This was for him. Apparently, his speech to the noble had opposite the effect the noble was hoping for. He sensed waves of controlled emotion through their ranks, one emotion, pride, pride that he was their cryptek. Cirrikan began to feel that the title of Technomandrite was beginning to carry more positive weight than negative.

The Technomancer walked down the aisle towards his entourage. There were several long-legged spyders waiting by the portal readied to connect them along with several Immortals, rebuilt warriors, lychguard and crypteks. Among them was the lychguard, Neras, his training complete and his memories restored. He wore armor synonymous with necron technology over his body based upon the human body in peak physical conditioning, standing at 3 meters in height. Keeping to his promise, Cirrikan made Neras his personal lychguard, this include varied pieces of equipment custom-built for him by Cirrikan.

With everything set, Cirrikan waved a hand over the portal. The braces hummed with power and the portal filled with energy slipping a barrier between universes. It was a complex thing to do without ripping open the fabric of space and time, like the moronic Imperium of Man did every time they needed to travel faster than light. He could only imagine how much of a headache they were to the Celestial Orrey.

The Eternity Gate flickered. Unstable on the receiving end. Not unexpected. Without needed to even be asked, one of the other crypteks, a chronomancer, took one of the spyders and went out of sync with the normal flow of time and vanished through the portal. It did not take long for the portal to stabilize and Cirrikan walked through it without delay.

( Damnos, Imperium calendar 009.M42, 10 years after reconquest, Universe-001)

He was immediately greeted by a storm of ice and snow. The chronomancer and the spyder that had went through first waited to the side. Cirrikan moved out of the way as the rest of his entourage came through the gate. He had intentionally waited until the storm had arrived to cover their entry, less chance of their arrival being discovered.

Among the lychguard, crypteks, immortals and spyders, a noble emerged from the gate. Cirrikan suspected he would be coming. Unlike his fellow nobles, who felt they were entitled because they were nobility, Knect'ntal was humbled by the fact that he was once cursed with the flayer virus and with nothing to offer him, when Cirrikan had cured him. His personal honor demanded repayment and he would do so by advising the cryptek in a manner that the rest of his entourage could not: grand strategy. The noble recognized that just because something was primitive, it did not mean that it was ineffective. This conclusion was obvious as he looked over the plains of Damnos, his extra-sensitive sensor array penetrating the ice and snow to see the countless fallen necrons.

Once everyone was through, Cirrikan had the gate shut down. He extended a hand towards the immobile monolith. The entirety of the war machine's body began to flow upwards. The group watched, amazed. Normally such a change could not be done with anything short of a scarab swarm and a dozen spyders but here was the Technomancer demonstrating his skills on the fly. The monolith took on a towering form which also extended circuit shaped roots into the ice while simultaneously ascending.

Once the structure was completed, the technomandrite reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out a pre-made canoptek leech, designed for active modification by maintaining a small portal to one of the high-quality necrodermis asteroid foundries. Cirrikan threw the leech and it sank into the structure to disappear out of sight. One thing that had remained on the now-stationary monolith was its Eternity gate. The group sensed the cryptek access the damaged systems of the Tomb World and managed to reroute enough power and systems to establish a stable connection to the complex below.

Cirrikan said nothing but the pace he set when he sprinted through the portal told the group to do the same as the portal was unlikely to remain stable for long. Once they were through, all of them had to adjust to different sensors as there was not a shred of light anywhere. Everyone as able to get through before the portal collapsed. The lychguard and immortals held their weapons at the ready. The chronomancer extended his chronometron, built into the palm of his hand. He viewed the disruption of time around him before deactivating it and shaking his head towards Cirrikan.

The group stood down, the chronomancer confirming that no biological had been through there. They were likely still demolishing the upper levels. Cirrikan began pulling out more leeches and distributing among his entourage to place at certain locations. While the spyders and crypteks left to carry out their instructions, the lychguards, Immortals, and the noble followed Cirrikan up a nearby set of stairs, leading into a vast chamber that had been collapsed. There were subtle hints that this used to be the Tomb World's throne room but now it was a pile of rubble.

Undeterred, the Technomancer stood before the pile. He handed his staff to Neras. As the technomandrite extended his spines, eldritch energy arced through them. The energy spread through his body, building to the point that his robes began to sway in a growing wind in the chamber. When the energy reached its peak, Cirrikan unleashed it through all four hands upon the pile.  
The mountain of debris seemed to solidify into a single mass before sinking into the floor of the chamber along the walls and into the hole in the ceiling. The technomancer's entourage stared in awe. While they had witnessed the work of a cryptek before, it was usually them acting through canoptek constructs, not this scale of awe-inspiring transmutation. The hole in the ceiling resolved itself into what they recognized as a massive circular Eternity Gate but wrought in a manner that was clearly not intended to transport troops.

Its purpose was rapidly made clear as it activated and a column of liquid gold wider than a Monolith descended to the chamber floor. What it was was made equally clear when the Technomancer worked the material into a cauldron embedded into the floor to catch it with an angled base surrounded by freshly-forged canoptek leeches. From the base emerged patterns of the gold resolved themselves into complex circuitry.

The group felt power surging through the chamber and out. As the crypteks and spyders returned, they ascended the stairs in time for the base of the chamber near the staircases to erupt with more molten necrodermis filling the halls. The placed leeches began to resolve the metal into the walls, shaping according to their master's designs. The local area of the Tomb complex began to come back to life. A connection was made as a Nodal Command Network similar to the one forged in the Justice League universe manifested.

The debris that had sealed the many chambers disappeared into the molten metal, allow the liquid to proceed down the vast halls. For the first time in nearly a year, the spyders activated their anti-grav units and followed the rivers of necrodermis, their limbs moving over the igneous material, drawing from it to manufacture new scarab swarms and leeches to place. New alcoves appeared in the walls, large slots intended not for necrons but for spyders.

The teleportation network began to crackle back to life, now under the guidance of a new system. Cirrikan had reshaped the Throne Room into a Forge and workshop of incredible magnificence. He tapped into the freshly spawned Nodal Engineering Network and felt the formation of new generators, bringing fresh waves of power to the Tomb. As the molten necrodermis spread, constructs that had been felled by the gene-bred, or Space Marines as they called themselves, were swallowed by the fluid only to emerge reborn.

Hexagonal alcoves of various sizes appeared in the walls. Modelled after beehives, these would soon be birthing next-generation scarabs. Satisfied that the process that had begun in the lower chambers was now self-sustaining, the Technomandrite took back his staff and approached a pedestal that had emerged from the polished flooring. He walked up the stairs and like a great key, stuck his staff into a slot. The tomb responded, as the cryptek projected new life into the Tomb as a whole.  
(Damnos, upper tomb complex, Universe-001)

Guardsman Penton Gantet shivered as the cold air moved through the monolithic passageways. No matter how many times he visited the Necrons tomb complex which seemed to go on forever beneath the surface of Damnos, he never ceased to be uneasy. The ancient crypts constantly set his teeth on edge.  
A boom followed by the sound of rock crumbling was a small satisfaction that they were making progress in rendering the tombs systematically useless. Yet, the progress was slow as the number of charges needed to bring down a single section of passage way of some innocuous chamber of ancient and unknown function was often heavily resource consuming. The guardsmen shouldered his lasrifle and went to inspect the newly buried chamber when something seemed off…  
He looked around then noticed that the alien symbols that were barely visible in the rock-like material that the necron tombs were made of were beginning to steadily glow with eldritch energy.

"Lieutenant!" Shouted the guardsman as he ran back to his demolitions division. As he turned the corner he came upon the sight of the collapsed tomb...rebuilding itself.

"This should not be possible." Said the tech-priest, saying that as casually as one would discuss the weather," With the command network down, so too should the tomb be deactivated."

Penton Gantet felt a sharp prick in the neck, he bowed his head to feel nothing. He looked up to see the collapsed tomb.

"This tomb is cleared out, let's go home." Ordered his superior.

Penton Gantet relaxed his grip on his lasrifle as he followed his demolition crew out of the tomb.

(Damnos, Main forge/ command center, Universe-001)

The Chronomancer along with a white Canoptek Wraith, one of the sentient one specializing in multiple fields of medicine, genetics, and cybernetics, returned to the chamber that had since transformed from a throne room into a vast workshop. Also it served as a command center as the interior was dominated by a floating semi-spherical body of high-quality necrodermis and light. As the Chronomancer's gaze penetrated the sphere, he could see subtle details that marked it as a real time map of Damnos, inside and out. Though the map was incomplete, the chronomancer could see the map growing as the tomb complex steadily reactivated and was flooded by liquid necrodermis, reforming and reshaping them to the will of its new master.

The Technomancer was attending to the remains of what appeared to be a Damnosian necron noble, whom, from the appearance of his long scything talons, had been afflicted with the Curse of the Flayer. He watched as streams of high quality necrodemis flowed from Cirrikan's hands enter the body of the noble. The technomandrite's entourage was apparently so confident in the cryptek's skills that they did not worry about being afflicted. At the cursed necron Lord's head was one of the sentient canoptek spiders that had been charged with curing the flayer virus, working on the damaged mind of the former noble. While the claws began to slowly shrink, the Noble's body began to take on the form of those that had been renewed in life and body by the technomancer's work.

Then the noble awoke.

"Who are you?" The noble spoke, confused," Where am I?"

"You are on your tomb world Damnos and I am Cirrikan, Technomandrite cryptek of the Ogdobekh Dynasty." Said the technomancer.

"Technomandrite? I thought your kind were legends, a rumor of the courts?" Said the Necron lord.

"He is no legend." Said Knect'ntal, surprising the party with the noble's support.

The technomancer went back to his forge.

"Where is he going?" asked Sahtah, remembering his name. The necron lord also remembered his other name, the Enfleshed. He shivered… _What?_ He grasped his… skin…. His skin...his own flesh... Not the robes composed of another… his own skin... his own sinew.

"I need a reflector." Ordered the Necron Lord.

A spyder standing on eight long legs raised itself on four of them. The other four plus the spyders fabrication claw array worked in tandem as a disc of necrodermis form and became a full body mirror.

Standing up, the necron Lord looked and was startled by what he saw. Unlike his original flesh, which was plagued with tumorous growths from his heavily irradiated planet, his new form was beautiful and smooth. As suited to a Necron Lord he was tall and powerfully built, his new robes showing off his superior form.

"What is he?" Asked Sahtah

"He is a blessing for what was once a cursed existence. He has freed you from the wrath of Llandu'gor and gifted you with a body that is truly living metal." Said Knect'ntal, whom himself possessed armor over a shorter yet stockier form.

Sahtah walked over to the raised dais, where the technomancer worked with several other crypteks and sentient spyders. The Dais was dominated by the appearance of a solar system, one of the planets being his tomb world. The crypteks seemed to be communicating but not verbally. His connection to the Nodal Military network came with a thought but also came with no revelation as to what the crypteks were discussing.

"They are using the Nodal Engineering Network." Said Knect'ntal," I would not advise accessing it unless you want to be disabled by confusion for a period of time."

Sahtah nodded as he watched the crypteks part from the Technomancer. The technomandrites staff hovered in front of him as he spread his arms before the recreation of the system. The cascading fountains of liquid necrodermis answered the crypteks call and flowed to the center of the chamber, coalescing to form a structure. A complex latticework formed, twice the size of a monolith. He had trouble following the lines of necrodermis as they began to shape the crystalline mass. As one neared, what the noble suspected to be completion, more began to take shape throughout the chamber. Upon said completion, each of the structures hovered by the representation of a planetary body in the system other than Damnos. A wave of power fell over the room as Cirrikan swept an arm over the area and space itself folded on the structures.

"It will be eight planetary rotations before we start receiving resources even then, it will initially be a trickle as the facilities grow." Said Cirrikan aloud. It was difficult to determine as to who he was talking to though until the Technomandrite turned to face him," Damnos is to become the first of a new generation of manufacturing facilities for our people. Do you have any objections?"

"What does the Undying have to say about this?" Asked Sahtah.

"He is recorded to have been here but neither his remains nor his essence has been detected nor recovered. For now, you remain the most senior of Damnos' nobility."

"What is becoming of my tomb world's armies and war machines?" Asked the assumed leader Overlord of Damnos.

"Until such a time as the Forgeworld has the proper infrastructure set up, the damaged war machines will remain on the fields where they fell and your fellow necrons are being shipped to Universe-02, where the flayers are being cured, the destroyers repaired, and all are being upgraded to true living status." Said Cirrikan as the cryptek walked nonchalantly down the stairs by the noble.

"So the destroyer corruption is also undone? Truly you are worth the price, though I am concerned about the price I am paying for such a massive scale of service." Said Sahtah as he excused the cryptek for his blatant disregard for his rank.

"Nothing is being paid, noble, you have nothing to offer." The cryptek turned to face his surprised expression," This is not your tomb world. Look about you, tap into the Nodal Command Network and tell me what you can offer that I do not already control."

It took the Noble a mere nanosecond to realize that his tomb world was no longer his, the ancient rug that was necron society had been pulled out from under him and had been burned in the fires of cryptek industrial sorcery. He was standing before what he could now see was a rising juggernaut of Necrodermis and powerful invention and he could now clearly see how small a matter it was for him to be easily crushed and swept aside.

Sahtah dropped to a knee," I live to serve the Technomacer."

Cirrikan simply turned on his heel and strode through the Eternity Gate.

No sooner had the cryptek vanished than he felt his rank in the Nodal Military Network rise to the top. There were not many assets there yet but there were orders:

 **Stand By**

( Necron factory station _Xertac'stol,_ Universe-002)

The Technomancer returned through the portal to be greeted with the somber expression of a Chronomancer.

"When?" Asked Cirrikan.

"A Quarter Earth rotation." Reported the cryptek as he took the side of his superior as they walked.

"Our disposition?" Asked Cirrikan.

"23,670 Necron volunteers, 6,700, spyders are standing by, 20 million tier I scarabs,1.3 millions tier II scarabs, 20,000 Acanthrites, 45,000 canoptek wraiths, 70 monoliths, 3 scorpyons, 6 wings of Night sythes, 4 wings of Doom Scythes, 2 wings of Night Shrouds, and one _Cairn_ -class tomb ship." Reported the cryptek.

"It will do. Inform my nemesor to initiate plan Alpha." Said Cirrikan.


End file.
